48: Learn How To Share Your Faith Confidently and Casually

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Today we're talking about a common struggle that I have felt like I've had in the past and in many conversations that I've had with different women, it is a struggle that many people face and that is talking about your faith openly with the people around you. So if you have been hesitant in the past to share your faith or just unsure of how to sharing your faith with other people, maybe it's a coworker or. We're a friend or even a family member, then you are not alone.

Many of us have experienced that as well. And I feel like many of us feel like sharing our Catholic or Christian faith is difficult because it can be a very deep and personal and intimate part of our lives. However, it doesn't have to stop there. It's not that it doesn't have to be deep and personal. I mean, it obviously is and should be, but a part of our faith should also be public and should also be able to be shared with the people around us.

Um, and so it's about finding that balance of how can we share our faith? What do we share about our faith to be able to share it with other people and evangelize or at least just be a light in this world to the people around us, but maybe not have to share the super deep parts of our lives or not have conversations that are, uh, maybe just not ready for that relationship or uncomfortable or yeah, start anything. If there's people around you that have different views, um.

I'm not saying you shouldn't engage in conversations like that, but you just have to know and discern what conversations are appropriate for different settings, right? However, I feel like there is just this misconception that you cannot talk about your faith in the way that you like shouldn't talk about politics with everybody. Um, but I, I disagree because I think, like I said, there's a part of our faith that should be public, that should be shared.

And I think there are ways that we can talk about our faith in a very casual, normal way. Isn't awkward or weird and it really, just depends on how we're presenting it and our own confidence when we speak of doesn't have to be heavy or intimidating. It just has to come from a place of confidence in you and the way that you're sharing it. And honestly, an effort to just make it sound natural and casual, because that shows that you're comfortable with your faith and comfortable with it.

So basically what we're going to talk about today is like how do we talk about our faith in the same way that we talked about like what we did this weekend or we where we went out to eat today or what is your favorite book or what show you're currently watching on TV? All those normal part of their day. Parts of your lives that you feel like you share naturally with your co workers, your friends, your family, the people that you just talk to regularly.

Um, in that same way, we're going to learn how can we talk about our faith? How can we incorporate it into different conversations and talk about it casually? And how can we be confident in that? Because people are drawn to your light and your confidence and your love for your faith. When that shines through, I really do believe that. People see that they perceive something is different about a Christian, a Catholic that is truly deeply rooted in their faith.

And there's just this joy that radiates from within and this confidence and just comfortability in where you stand in your faith. And so in this episode, we're going to dive into why it can be hard to share our faith sometimes, and maybe just some mindset shifts that you can make and some practical tools that you can implement to be able to just be more at ease and more confident when conversations around faith show up.

Plus I'm going to walk you through how to handle maybe tough moments that come up or maybe even how to answer questions that you actually don't know the answer to. So grab your coffee, your tea, your drink, and let's dive in. First, let's talk about why sharing our faith and just talking about our faith can be so intimidating sometimes. I think that, in general, we tie the faith to a really deep connection.

Personal and intimate part of our lives, which is true and absolutely there are so many aspects to the faith that are very deep and personal and intimate and we may have had many experiences or some experiences in our faith that That have really gotten us through hard times in our lives. Or maybe we have wrestled with big questions with the Lord. Maybe we have even questioned our faith ourselves, right?

Like we have gone through our own fair share of just like deeply emotional experiences within our faith. And to enter into that kind of vulnerability can feel exposing or scary, or maybe we have either grown up around a community that hasn't been open to the faith and there are negative emotions that are tied to talking about your faith in public, right? Maybe you have received criticism or persecution or negativity, or have just received any sort of like.

Pushback or hate for being Catholic or Christian and being open about that. And so obviously if you've had experiences like that, we can also have hesitations about talking about our faith. on top of all that, I feel like there is just this, um, kind of in the back of our heads, just this fear of judgment and persecution, even, I don't know about you, but I just feel like the Catholic faith especially is so. Criticized and persecuted and painted so badly in, uh, like our popular culture today.

And I feel like it's just gotten worse and worse over the years. Like, I don't know if it's just cause I'm older, but I just don't feel like I remember in middle school or high school, or maybe even college. Like I don't remember it being so okay for Hollywood actors or, you know, rock stars, like musicians, artists. Like, or just people in the public eye and celebrities to actively mock the Catholic faith specifically, or to be outwardly so satanic and so opposed, right, to the Catholic faith.

Um, and I feel like we see a lot of that now, um, in music videos, we saw it in the Olympics opening act, um, whatever it was called. I forget what it's called. The opening opening. What's it called? Opening ceremony. Opening ceremony. Um, like I said, we see it in music videos all the time, in different movies.

I just feel like if there's ever like a Catholic priest or a Catholic church that's in a movie, it's always like got like the creepy music in the background, or he's the bad guy, or it's just like creepy, negative vibes that are painted around the church.

Um, and then obviously we have, um, Different artists that have just totally mocked Jesus outwardly, either dressing as Jesus and, um, just like making a fool of themselves or, um, speaking badly of the name of Jesus or even just like horrible sacrilegious things. Um, yeah, I've seen in so many music videos, especially, and I don't feel like. That was as much of an openly accepted thing or as much of a trend, almost in this like celebrity world.

Um, a few years ago, like, I feel like it's just really been happening maybe the past five years or so. And for me personally, I feel like that is what has contributed to. If I ever feel on guard with sharing my faith or if I ever feel, um, just more apprehensive regarded about saying like, yeah, I'm Catholic. I think it's because of that. I think it's because I just assume that people who aren't Catholic are.

Viewing this like pop culture that is so against the Catholic Church and just maybe hearing horrible things being said about Catholics that are not true that I just kind of feel kind of, yeah, just like a guard of just like, Hey, by the way, like, I'm, I'm Catholic, you know, whatever you think of it is fine. Um, and. That's part of, I think, why I wanted to share about this topic, um, as well as I feel like it just came up a lot for me in college.

And that's when I really put these practical tips into practice that we are going to go through, um, and talk about on this podcast. I started putting these into practice and it helped me grow in confidence to share about my faith. So even now when I feel a certain guardedness, Maybe I'm with somebody who's like not practicing at all or who I feel like might have judging opinions about the faith. That still doesn't stop me.

And I'm able to kind of practice these things that I'm going to teach you guys today and kind of walk myself through these different mindset shifts to be like, no, I can still talk about this and be confident and joyful, um, and hopefully be attractive. Uh, and paint our faith in an attractive way in this conversation. And a couple more things I want to say about this is that not every conversation about faith has to become this like deep sermon.

Or even like a big theological teaching or conversation. It doesn't even have to be a sharing of like views specifically. And I think that's maybe one of the reasons why, um, it can be scary to share about our faith because we just immediately associate it with like opposing views. just as we would maybe be careful about sharing politics with our coworkers. Um, but the reality is I really feel strongly that we can share about our faith in a very casual way.

Um, because if it is a big part of your life, it should come up honestly.

Like if the people who you spend a lot of time with, whether that's your friends, your coworkers, or your family don't know that you're Catholic or don't know What that looks like in your life, I think there's a problem there, or there's really an opportunity to open a door that Jesus is actually probably calling you to open, um, and to be more open about how you live your Catholic faith, because evangelization doesn't just mean, um, or look like us standing on a street corner with a sign saying

like, Jesus, Jesus. wants to save you, right? Not that I recommend doing that ever, but like evangelization doesn't have to be this like super aggressive forward thing where you're trying to convert someone. Evangelization is simply sharing the light of Christ in your own life, and that light and that attraction Bringing other people in because it just, it just does. It's just the light of Christ. Like it's just, it's not even you, you know, that's bringing someone in.

It's just Christ shining through you. And how will they ever encounter Christ? If you never share about your faith and how you live it out in your daily life. So. Just remember, you don't have to turn every conversation into a debate. It can be a really casual thing, just sharing about your life. Okay, so let's dive into a couple mindset shifts that I want to share with you guys. When you feel the hesitation or doubt of, Can I share this? Should I share this?

Or I feel nervous about sharing this. Just kind of try and remember a few of these pieces of advice that I have for you and kind of a mindset for you to enter into as you share about your faith. So you can kind of just gain that confidence and feel more comfortable in talking about your faith. So first of all, there is no shame. In your faith, right? You should not feel any shame or embarrassment in your faith, whether you are Christian or Catholic or whatever your faith is, right?

It should be this very important part of your life. And if you truly believe it wholeheartedly. There's no shame around that and don't let anybody, uh, make you feel shameful about that. And if you feel shame about that or you feel embarrassed sharing about it, that is not of God. And that is something that I encourage you to pray with and pray through and just like reject those spirits.

You know, in the name of Jesus Christ, I reject the spirit of shame around my faith and I Gosh, how do you end that prayer? Uh, some people end it with like, and I demand that it gets sent to the foot of the cross of Jesus Christ or something like that. But right. But we just reject those spirits in the name of Jesus Christ. I reject the spirit of embarrassment around my faith, um, because that's not up the Lord.

And that is the evil one trying to suppress you from sharing your faith or from feeling confident in your faith. And then just remember, uh, Like you can have confidence in God, not in yourself when you're sharing about your faith. I think we put so much pressure on ourselves sometimes about the way that we're going to talk about our faith or express maybe like a teaching like We have so much pressure of like, Oh my gosh, I hope I say the right thing. I hope I don't rub somebody the wrong way.

But if we just really have confidence in the Lord and that he is going to speak through us and just give us the right words. And even if you know, you're going to have a conversation come up soon, maybe even saying a prayer, like come Holy spirit.

You know, easy come Holy Spirit in, you know, join me in this conversation or allow my words to be yours, not mine speak through me, whatever it is, invite the Holy Spirit, um, to be with you in those conversations with people that you feel like you want If you are feeling nervous about what you are going to say. Because the truth is, you know, you don't have to be perfect in what you're saying about your faith and what you're sharing.

It just has to come from the heart and people just have to notice a genuine, like, authenticity about you when you talk about your faith. So that leads me to my next point. Just be authentic because people are attracted to that. People can really just pick up on when you are genuine and joyful. And when you enjoy something or really love something or are passionate about it, people pick up on that and they're attracted to that.

Just think of like, you know, when your friend is telling you about how much she loved going to. The basketball game on Friday and how much she loves that team or whatever. You're like, Oh my gosh, like this girl loves basketball. Oh my gosh. And I literally don't know why I said that because I don't even like sports, but one of my best friends loves basketball. So I just thought of her.

Um, or when someone's telling you about like what they're studying and they just like kind of nerd out and you can just tell like, Oh my gosh, like they love what they're doing or they love their job and they're telling you about their job and they're super passionate about their job or whatever. People can feel your authentic energy. And if you truly love your faith, act in that manner, right?

Share it with love and joy and confidence because people are going to pick up on that and that's attractive to them. And on the opposite front, if you act awkward or uncomfortable or nervous when people ask about your faith, or if the topic comes up, or if you share about it naturally and you act kind of uncomfortable about it, people are going to read that too. And people are going to read that negative energy surrounding the topic of your faith. So it's either going to come off as.

Oh, they're not very confident in their faith or they're not very practicing or they feel, you know, kind of an awkwardness or an embarrassment about their faith, you know, or it just like gives off this negative vibe of like, Oh yeah, like faith is a negative thing when it really doesn't have to be. And so some examples that I want to talk about are like, Integrating it into your everyday life conversation and being able to bring it up more often.

If you are someone that's really actively pursuing your faith and practicing your faith, then there's probably several times a day or a week that you're coming into contact with Some sort of faith related activity, whether that be a morning offering or your daily rosary, or you're going to mass on Sunday or a daily mass, or you're going to adoration, or maybe you have a small group or a Bible study that you're a part of, or you're going on retreat or you're reading a spiritual book.

You know, those are a million examples. I just gave right there of very casual day to day activities that as a Catholic, you might be doing in your daily life. So how do we incorporate that into conversation? Easy. Someone's like, Hey, how's your day going? You know, or they're like, Hey, what were you up to this weekend? They just ask about what you did that day or that weekend. Incorporate your faith activity into the conversation, right?

Oh, yeah, on Sunday, I went to church in the morning, and then I went to brunch, and then I, you know, hung out on the couch and watched a show with my husband. We just chilled, right? It might end there. It might just be like, you just share that you went to church. Or maybe your coworker might be like, Oh, that's great. Where do you go to church? And then you can share, Oh my gosh, we go to Christ the King, or St. Mary's, or John of the Cross, whatever your church is called.

Um, and then you, you kind of have an open door there. If somebody asks the question, Oh, what church do you go to? You have an open door. An open door to give more detail. Oh, we go to St. Mary's. Yeah. We love it there. We've been going, you know, for X amount of years, we usually go to the 8am morning mass and the priest there actually is so good. His homilies are always super informative or super inspirational, or you can be like, yeah, we just, I love the music at the 5pm mass.

And so that's why we go in the evenings and whatever it is that open door allows you to share just a little bit more information. About how you're practicing your faith. And you can see that in that example, I just gave, I just shared about like, what are the things you love about your church and why you go to that church? Those are all positive things that are now associated with your faith and with that church.

And you're just sharing a little bit of the beauty of your faith and a little bit of the beauty of the Catholic faith. Another thing could be like sharing your small group or Bible study. And possibly allowing that to lead to an invitation at some point if you feel like that comes up naturally or God is like tugging on your heart to invite someone. So I just remember when I was in college, sometimes I would feel weird about sharing that I was going to Bible study.

And when people asked me like, Oh, what are you doing tonight? Or like, Hey, do you want to go do this? And I had Bible study. I remember kind of feeling like, Oh, I'm, you know, I'm going to, and I would kind of pause and I'd be like, I can't really lie about it. Or I'd be like, Oh, I'm just going to the thing tonight. Or, you know, and so, or sometimes I'd be like, Oh yeah, I'm, yeah, I'm kind of like going to this Bible study thing or this like small group thing.

And if I said it awkwardly, it was received awkwardly. It was like, Oh, Okay, nice. You know, or like, what, what do you mean like smog or like, what are you talking about? Or like, what's your thing? Like the more elusive you were about it, it was kind of like, it was awkward. And when I just challenged myself to be confident about sharing that part of my life, The reaction was so much different. A lot of the times, I promise it was like, Oh yeah, I'm going to Bible study tonight.

I have a Bible study every Tuesday or something. People would be like, Oh, cool. Who, like, where's that Bible study? You know, like, do you lead it? Are you part of it? Like they would ask questions like, Oh, that's awesome. I've always wanted to be in a Bible study. Or people were like, Ooh, I've never been in a Bible study. Or, you know, like it just like opened the door for conversation.

And so one thing I always Um, and so what I would recommend is at first you just have to fake it till you make it. And that's the truth. You just literally have to make yourself not awkward and make yourself speak in a confident manner even if you feel uncomfortable until you don't feel uncomfortable because the more you do it, the more comfortable you will feel and just have the mindset of this is just like any other part of my life.

In fact, it's more important, but it can be shared just like I shared about my life. How I went to Chipotle for lunch. Like I don't think twice about sharing where I went to lunch or What I did over the weekend or you know anything like what movie I saw I share about it casually and I don't think oh My gosh, what if they like Qdoba more than Chipotle?

This is gonna be awkward now we have differing opinions, you know, if you're like someone's not a denominational Christian and I'm Catholic or Someone's Jewish and I'm Catholic like It's going to be so weird if I said, I went to mass or I love my church. No, it's not. It's just part of who you are. And I mean, nobody, nobody should be making you feel bad for who you are. Right.

And I really highly doubt, especially if the way you're bringing it up is just a casual conversation that any Friction is going to arise in the conversation and so just as you shared, you know, I went to Qdoba for or Chipotle for lunch Maybe your friend is like, uh, I like Qdoba so much better and you're just like, okay, great. That's fine We can move on. You can also share like yeah, I also went to Bible study on Wednesday and Maybe they have their own thoughts about Bible study.

I highly doubt they're going to share those with you in that moment. They're probably gonna be like, Oh, nice. Um, and then you can move on and you can just continue to share about your day, but you were able to share kind of a little positive moment about your faith life and just kind of Share an example of how you're living your faith life out in your life. Two more things that I want to share about when entering into this mindset of I'm going to share my faith with confidence.

One, approach these conversations about faith as an invitation and not an argument. This might apply more if you're having a more in depth conversation with somebody about the faith or if you mentioning, you know, Oh yeah, I pray the rosary every day, or I'm in a Bible study where I went to mass. Those casual things, if that opens the door to maybe a longer conversation or, um, yeah, more of a dialogue about your faith, approach it as an invitation, not an argument.

And don't assume people have negative opinions or thoughts about your faith because approaching as an invitation will allow you to kind of let that guard down and not be on the defense. And in fact, be more comfortable and open and actually eager to share more. And if a dialogue does open or if whoever you're speaking to does ask more questions about your faith, I want you to remember that your job is to plant seeds.

It's not to convince the other person, um, especially not in initial conversations you're having. Because you're not necessarily trying to, you know, the purpose of these conversations or the purpose of you talking about your faith isn't solely to win someone over and that's really not the purpose most of the time. Like, you're not trying to like win somebody over or convert somebody on the spot.

You're just trying to be an authentic example of Christ and be an authentic, um, just to like show the light of God. Christ in your life and just how your life is so much more joyful and bright and beautiful and made better because of your faith and because of Jesus. And that's what's going to be contagious. Not you saying the perfect thing or trying to convince them of anything. So I feel like I'm going back and forth here between my practical tips and mindset shift advice.

So we're just going to keep going back and forth. Some more tips that I have for you. Number one, share stories, not sermons. So Um, in the right moments with a close friend that's asking more, that might be an appropriate time to really kind of like preach your heart out and be like, this is what the Lord wants of you. And this is what he's taught us and all this amazing stuff. But people generally aren't ready to hear all of those big truths. Um, and so.

In fact, people are actually just more attracted to how the faith impacts your life. So sharing stories about your life and how the faith has impacted you or how you live it out is going to be more attractive and open a more natural conversation.

And again, it can be really casual and depending on the conversation you're having or the level of relationship you have with the person you're talking to, you can share more, but it can really be as simple as, you know, I was really feeling really anxious yesterday because of X, Y, Z, or you don't have to share why, But I was really feeling anxious and so I prayed a rosary and it actually brought me so much peace and just made me feel so much better. That right there is just simple.

It's authentic. It's relatable. We all feel anxiety about different things. We all get nervous about different things and we all try and find different ways to cope with that. And so just by sharing that, it's such a natural and authentic way to just share how your faith is. served you and how your faith blessed you in a moment of need. And what that does is it just opens naturally a door and the conversation and plants a little seed, right?

If the other person doesn't really have faith, or maybe was Catholic and fell away, or maybe is Catholic, but is trying to practice their faith more, but doesn't know how it plants a little seed of. Oh, didn't know Mari prayed the rosary when she felt nervous, you know, or I didn't know she prayed the rosary at all. It seems like she does that when she feels anxious. Like, maybe I should do that next time. Or like, I wonder what that's like.

I wonder if that helps, you know, it seems like it seems like it really helped her. So those are the just, That's the kind of, um, just natural ways that you can weave it into a conversation or share stories, right? You can share a story about the homily on Sunday and why that stood out to you and how you've been pondering that throughout the week or an activity that you did at Bible Study that you thought was super fun.

Or how meeting weekly with your small group is super helpful for you to find community in the faith or to, yeah, just connect with other women who are striving for the same things or have those shared beliefs and can walk with you in your journey of the faith, Those just are different ways that you can share how the faith is blessing you and your life and be a light to the people around you.

And those are just casual comments that don't feel forced or don't feel negative or don't feel like too dangerous or too, too sensitive of a topic to touch. And then two, I think it's good to ask questions yourself. If you feel like a dialogue is opening up or the person you're talking to shows a little bit of interest, that is an open door for then you to continue the dialogue and maybe ask a question. You can ask in return, yeah, what church do you go to?

Or what do you do when you feel anxious? Do you have anything that helps you? Or did you grow up in a faith at all? You know, do you practice a faith? And just kind of, again, ask it. Casually and ask it in a really normal way, as if you were asking like, where did you eat for lunch today? Um, and obviously there is a certain level of respect that has to come about the conversation when you're talking about your faith, but don't be weird or awkward when you're asking about the faith.

Don't be like, Oh yeah, sorry. Are you Christian? You know, like that's kind of a weird way to ask it. And in turn, someone's going to feel weird and feel like, Oh, this is no topic we can talk about. But the more comfortable you are when you talk, and when you ask a question, the more comfortable the person you're talking to is going to feel and the more comfortable the dialogue it's going to be.

Next, I would say practice, maybe a little elevator pitch, like just maybe a one liner or a one sentence of how your faith has impacted you or the fact that you're Catholic or Christian and why, you know, just maybe like a one liner that you feel like you can pull in conversations when someone asks you like, Oh, I didn't know you were Catholic or, Oh, I didn't know you went to church or whatever that you can share.

Just kind of have that stamp of joy and confidence come across when talking about your faith. For example, you can just be like, yeah, actually I grew up Catholic, but it wasn't a really big part of my life until, you know, my later college years. And then I really felt like I took the faith on as my own and my life has been totally different ever since. Um, it's just really kind of like the foundation of my life. And I've just found so much joy and peace and confidence in living this way.

So my faith is super important to me. Took like 30 seconds. It told a little bit of a story. It gave people an insight as to why you practice your faith and where you're at in your faith and just the way that it's benefiting and blessing your life. And if said with confidence, it's going to come across that way and it's going to open the door for dialogue. And if you're able to dive more into your story and if somebody asks questions, Don't be afraid of vulnerability.

You don't have to include really difficult details. If that's part of your story or really personal details that you're not ready to share, but sharing how your faith got you through some of your toughest times, or maybe how it took hitting a rock bottom. bottom moment to finally realize that you, you know, had lost your faith and wanted to go back. Like those moments are really powerful and sharing from the heart and sharing from our brokenness is really relatable.

And this could be me just inferring or assuming, but we all have brokenness, right? And I think that a lot of people that don't have faith perceive Christians. to maybe be judgmental about that brokenness or their past or their sinfulness or, you know, how they live their lives. And when you're able to be vulnerable and share, like, yeah, my life isn't perfect. My faith hasn't been perfect.

You know, when I share with people, like, yeah, I did not live a of Christ in College, and it took a really, you know, rock bottom night to realize that I was not on the path God wanted me to. When I share that, I feel like there's just a guard that has come down from the person I'm talking to because then they realize, Oh, Oh, I can relate to that. Like, I am, I've not lived a perfect life and, you know, clearly she hasn't either.

Like she has experience in that, but then they can kind of see like, wow, but like, look how important the faith is to her now. Look how much she practices her faith now. Like, I wonder how she got there. You know, I wonder what that shift was, but just sharing invulnerability, um, Parts of your story, parts of your brokenness can really just allow people's walls to come down to feel like they can relate and then kind of have more trust in that conversation. And just be ready for questions.

I think this is one of the things that really pushed me to learn more about my faith. In high school, I was friends with a lot of Mormon friends and, um, I think I was just so attracted to them because they lived really, really good lives. They're really good people and had really amazing standards, especially for high schoolers where people just want to fit in and it's hard to say no. And everybody just wants to do what everybody's doing.

These friends that I had were really inspiring to me because they lived really amazing moral lives. And for some reason I was just really attracted to that even in high school and really impressed by them. And so I would hang out with them a lot. Um, but they would ask me a lot of questions. They would be like, Oh, Why do you say the words in the Our Father? Or what is, what are the words of the creed? And why do you say those? And what do they mean? And what does the church teach about Mary?

And, you know, if you don't worship Mary, what does it look like then? And what do you do in your mass? And why did they do that in the mass? And why do you stand up? And why do you kneel down? All these questions, right? And I began to realize, oh my gosh, I grew up Catholic and went to Sunday school. And yet I don't know how to answer these questions. And that could be a whole other podcast episode in itself about.

Making sure that our church is catechized well, um, which so many of us are not catechized well. Um, but that pushed me to learn about my faith. And I started listening to talks, listening to Father Mike Schmidt's videos on YouTube, um, reading different books and trying to learn more about my faith. my faith. I started reading different parts of the catechism, reading the Bible more, just to really understand, like, why do we do these things in the Catholic faith?

And it strengthened my faith, and it strengthened my belief in the Catholic Church as the one true church, because I found an answer to everything. Because nothing is done just because. Everything stems from scripture or tradition, and There is richness and meaning behind all of the ways that we practice our faith.

And so when I was able to learn that, and then I was able to share that with friends whenever they asked and sharing confidently what I had learned made them more confident in my faith, right? And made them respect me. And so this is an encouragement to you to actively seek out more knowledge in your faith. Trust me, you are never going to run out of things to learn.

There is so much written about our faith from saints in the catechism, um, different, you know, popes and bishops and encyclicals and everything in the past, um, you know, that has been written about our faith. So there's always more to learn and that gives you just like So much more authority to be able to share as well. Now, I also just want to say, don't be afraid to say that you don't know the answer to that question.

It is better to say that than to kind of try and make up a shifty answer that you're like, I don't know if that's true or I don't know if I'm saying it right. Because you're probably not going to come across confident. You're probably going to come across like you don't know your faith. Um, and it's actually, I think more respectable to be like, That's a really good question. I actually don't know if I know the answer, but let me get back to you on that. I'm going to look into that.

Cause I, I'm, I'm interested in knowing what the answer to that is too. And so by just admitting like, Hey, I actually don't think I know the answer to that, but I want to find out, I'm going to get back to you. That's more respectable. And you can now come back to the conversation at a later time with the answer and open the conversation back up. You can go do your homework.

Learn about whatever they had asked about or what you didn't fully understand about your faith and come back and share what you found and continue the conversation, I think just one of the biggest things I want y'all to walk away with is that sharing your faith brings glory to God and sharing the ways that he is working in your life brings glory to God.

And. Even sharing little God moments, right, of how God's working in your life, little God winks, coincidences, or signs that you see, ways that you feel like God is showing up in your life, sharing those with your friends around you, um, especially, yeah, even people who are Christian, right? You should still be talking about your faith with people who share the faith and that's so encouraging.

To share, yeah, to share those different moments, um, brings glory to God because it shows how God is bringing joy into your life, how he is blessing your life, how he is bringing peace into your life, how he is helping you overcome anxiety or fear, um, or whatever it is that you're going through brings so much glory and honor to the Lord.

And that not only just honors God, but I think just sparks inspiration in other people, sparks intrigue in other people, and even just allows people to admire you for your faith and just how, yeah, your faith and your trust and your belief in God. And, you know, lastly, I also just want to say, if you feel awkward, if you mess up, if you say the wrong thing, or if you walk away from a conversation thinking, Oh my gosh, that could have gone so much better. Have grace with yourself. It's okay.

Right? Like you get better at it. The more that you do it and the more you talk about your faith, the more comfortable you're going to feel. Like I said, at first, fake it till you make it. You might not feel super confident at first, but just fake it till you make it. You will get there. And if you have some awkward moments, rub it off. It's okay. Don't worry about it. Um, I remember just last spring, I think I was at one of my favorite coffee shops and it is a Christian coffee shop.

And I was wearing my West coast Catholic. See you in the Eucharist crew neck. So it says, see you in the, uh, And then there's a little Eucharist symbol. It's like a circle with a cross in the middle, so it doesn't actually spell Eucharist. It just shows the Eucharist symbol. And I went up to pay for my coffee and the guy's like, Ooh, see you in the circle with the cross. What does that mean? And I was like, Oh, I don't want to talk about this right now.

I just like need to grab my coffee and go to work. Like, I don't, I just like, didn't want to enter the conversation. I was like, Oh yeah, it's just, it's a Catholic thing. And, and he was like, And then I kind of just brushed it off and I was like, Oh, how much do I owe you? You know, I like, I changed the conversation and then he pressed on. He was like, cool. What does it mean? Like, what's the Catholic thing? Like he like asked me more about it.

And I was like, all right, Jesus, this is you opening the door right here. Like, no, I have to talk about it. And so then I proceeded to share about. As Catholics, we believe that the Eucharist is the body and blood of Christ, and it's the source and summit of our faith, and there's this belief that, you know, we all make up the body of Christ, and when we go receive him in the Eucharist, we're all united to the body of Christ, and, you know, all that stuff.

And so I'm sharing this with him, and he actually was like, wow. That's super cool. Thanks for sharing that. And I walked away and I was just like, why did I make that so much more awkward than it needed to be? Like, why did I try and brush it off? I'm sure by brushing it off and being like, Oh yeah, it's a Catholic thing. It's just kind of like came off as, Oh, I don't know how to talk about this as weird question. Don't ask me, you know, but he was interested and I'm glad he asked again.

And I am glad that I got to share about that beautiful truth of our faith. Um, but that's all just to say you might have some awkward moments and that's okay. Have grace with yourself, brush it off. And keep going and try again. I hope that this was all very helpful to you. I know that I've had this conversation in person with several friends and the girls that I used to walk with when I was a missionary. And I felt like it was about time to chat about it on the podcast.

It had been on my like topics, brainstorm list for a long time. And didn't feel like the right time, but today as I was recording, I'm like, this is totally what we need to talk about. So hope that was the Holy Spirit. I hope that this is helpful to you and your life and that you got a lot of practical tips out of it.

And if there are any topics that you were like, I want Mari to talk about this so bad on the podcast or that you have a lot of questions about, please DM me, whether it's on my podcast Instagram at ever be podcast or on my podcast at Personal blog at Mari dot C dot Wagner. I read as many of those as I can. And I love when I get podcast, uh, topic suggestions, because obviously I'm here to serve you. I want to walk with you.

And if there's something that you're really struggling in or that you have questions on, I want to know, and I would love to create content on that. So if there's anything on your mind, send me a message and we'll see you all next week.