The Day I Stopped Asking If I Was Good Enough

• By candidasullivan
• February 2, 2026
• No Comments

Do you feel like you’re not good enough to do the work God placed on your heart?

For all of you who are pursuing your dreams, or even quietly considering them, I want to share something vulnerable with you.

I know how hard it is to share the most tender parts of your soul with others. Sometimes it feels like my soul is bleeding onto the pages, like I’ve peeled back every layer of pain, shame, and fear. Standing before the world without hiding has been one of the hardest things I’ve ever done.

The real battle for me hasn’t been the work. It’s been believing in myself.

I’ve carried deep scars of unworthiness for most of my life. I’ve allowed the enemy to make me feel small and insignificant. Regardless of success, encouragement from others, or even reassurance from my Lord, I often allowed the enemy’s voice to be the loudest one in my head.

If you watched the video of me crying the other day and talking about my writing (and if you haven’t, I invite you to go watch it), I shared that I felt a breakthrough coming. It felt big. And it did happen—just not in the way I expected.

It wasn’t external validation.
It was internal confrontation.

During a meeting with a literary agent, every feeling of unworthiness I’ve ever carried surfaced with each question. It felt like an interrogation of my worth—not intentionally, but painfully. Not just my writing, but me.

Me as a person.
Me as a woman.
Me as a child of God who loves the Lord and loves people.

When the conversation ended, my heart and mind were swirling. It awakened insecurities I thought I had already conquered. I spent most of that day crying. Some tears from heartache, others from sheer frustration.

But God ended the day with scriptures written just for me.

Habakkuk 3:18–19 KJV
Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.
The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places.

God showed me something profound.

Some people learn to write.
Others are born to write.

This is not a hobby for me.
It’s not for self-glory.
It’s for God’s glory.

He let me live for a reason. He chose me to do this work, and He has placed His seal of approval on it. The world may never understand me. I may never fit their standards of success, but I will never again allow anyone to make me feel as though my writing, or the work of my soul, is not good enough.

I pour my heart into my writing. I sit with people in their pain. I help others when no one is watching. I follow the Lord and trust Him. I don’t write what’s popular. I write what’s honest. What’s real. What some people don’t want to hear.

For a long time, the enemy has tried to disqualify and discourage me. But he can’t.

God chose me.
God qualified me.

And for the first time, I wholeheartedly believe that my worthiness is found in Him—the One who called me and the One who helps me.

When I recently received an offer for my new Zippy book, I read it carefully, and then I declined it. I told them it wasn’t what I was looking for. That decision sparked a new level of negotiation. But I will not settle. I will not accept crumbs when God has shown me more.

I will not allow anyone to publish my work unless they love and believe in it as deeply as I do. Unless I feel the Spirit of God in the process.

Anything less is unacceptable.

When I sent that email, my outer self panicked.
What did you just do?

But my inner self smiled and whispered,
It’s about time you stood up for yourself and fought for what God placed in your heart.

I’m done shrinking what God has called sacred.