Jen Baker - Unshakeable Confidence interview

Jen Baker, author of Unshakeable Confidence, is a writer and passionate speaker with a heart to see everyone equipped with the tools they need to feel confident in their identity, and joyously living out of their God-given strengths.

Lots of our readers will know you from your journals. But journals are about their personal journey with God. Tell us about you!:

Ha, good question. It’s fairly impossible for me to separate ‘me’ from my journey with God, but on the more practical and inquisitive level I can say that at my core I am a 48 year old single girl who is passionately in love with her Lord! I’ve never been married or had children (not by choice … this has been excruciatingly difficult and I share a bit about this in my latest two books) but I do believe this will change one fine day, so I’m fully embracing my single years while I have them!

I love adventure (as long as it involves nice accommodation … none of that camping and living off the earth stuff), travel, nice coffee, walks along the beach, a great book, trips to the cinema, candles, anything pampering and long chats with friends. Fine chocolate and a good cream tea will also make me a happy girl.

I also grew up in America, where all my family still live, and moved to the UK in my early 30s. I call myself an AmeriBrit as I have citizenship in both countries, and love them both with all my heart.

If someone could build a bridge across the Atlantic Ocean I would be their friend forever.

Your books and journals have always sought to meet those amid life struggles and seasons in a very specific way. Who is Unshakeable Confidence for?:

It is for the young lady or woman who wants to walk unashamedly and unafraid as a woman uniquely created by God.

I spent most of my teenage and adult life living afraid, letting insecurity and shame mock me into silence and self-hatred. Through Christ I learned who I was and my identity in Him, which transformed everything. I’ve seen over the years how many women, even those in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, still let fear silence them into submission and I wanted to empower them to break free of what has held them back – unlocking dreams or purpose they may have held at bay for many years.

What prompted you to write this book now?:

It’s funny how you think at age 20 you are ready to write a book, but then at age 40+ you are very grateful it never got written!

As as I said previously, I have had to traverse some difficult roads over the years and one of the most challenging has been breaking free from fear and insecurity. It literally plagued me into silence, confusion and terror (behind the scenes) much of my life. Though I confidently held a microphone in front of others, they could not see the insecurity, self-hatred and fear going on behind the scenes once I stepped off of stage.

Only the past few years has it fully and finally been broken off of me and that is when I knew I had the authority to write what I had wanted to write for many years.

Lots of authors take the approach of talking “at” their reader. Unshakeable Confidence is your voice, a conversation between you and your readers, and yet simultaneously also the voices of the people you have met along your own journey. Why is this approach important to you?:

I fully believe as we do this ‘life thing’ together we can all learn from one another.

I love meeting and chatting to people. In fact, meeting people at the book table when I am signing books is definitely one of the highlights for me when I am speaking.

So, for me, writing as a friend or mentor chatting to you is my style and my personality. I feel very passionate about the fact that we are all equal in God’s eyes and I believe, especially as women, we need to deliberately come against that spirit of competition and comparison and realise that you may learn from me today, but I can learn from you tomorrow. That’s the joy in the journey!

You write that for you in those early days “courage began at hello”. As a society it’s easier for us to hone in on life’s big challenges than the smaller ones - why do you think that is?:

I think we often see the big challenges as life defining (which they are), but in reality it is the small challenges that help prepare us to navigate larger ones with grace, faith and trust. The big challenges may terrify us, yet if we are not careful the smaller ones may trip us. It’s often the little challenges that test us most to trust God to work all things together for our good.

We sometimes think the smaller challenges are not worth ‘God’s time’ to pray about because we compare our small with someone else’s big. Yet the smaller challenges are just as important to God as He often uses them for training toward our spiritual growth.

It is this change in perspective which helps us mature, not simply endure.

Our culture seems focused on authenticity of self rather than authenticity as a uniquely created child of God. What do you see as the biggest hurdle in bridging that gap?

The lies of the enemy are always the greatest hurdle – ‘did God say’, ‘you can be like God’, etcetera are what got us into trouble in the first place. He comes to steal, kill and destroy, therefore his lies will always be the greatest hurdle to overcome. And often he wraps a truth around a lie, which is why it is so difficult to discern as false. ‘Fake news’ (news that has a shred of truth, mixed with one or more untruths) began in the Garden of Eden, and it has been swirling around us ever since.

I don’t believe we need to be concerned about the world’s definition of authenticity but rather let true authenticity speak for itself, because the truth is what sets people free.

As women walk in the full revelation of who the Bible says they are, others will take note and want ‘some of what she has’ because if their identity rests on anything other than Christ there will be a thread of unease, from fear the foundation could fall at any time.

So, the biggest hurdle I see is the lies of the enemy and identifying those lies in our own lives, so we can live fully free and help others walk in the same freedom.

What’s the biggest struggle when it comes to penning a book like this?

Being vulnerable.

This is my most vulnerable book, sharing some of my most painful times, and I found that a bit scary at times. Also, I had to go back and remember some things I don’t often choose to remember and then find a way to bring them back to life, without oversharing what wasn’t necessary. That was difficult at times.

Did writing this book teach you something new in the process?:

Oh, good question! I would say that it reinforced what I knew, but hadn’t fully been living until the past few years.

It was written during an especially difficult and traumatic time in my life, where I had to live out the principles in the book in a very real and raw way for an extended period of time. . . and I saw that they worked! It was that revelation that was the impetus to put pen to paper (or rather – fingers to keyboard) and to share more of the painful details of my life, praying that it would unfold the story of other women into their own beautiful tapestry of grace and strength.

What Bible verse spurs you on in moments of doubt or insecurity?

Without question the best weapon of defence against doubt and insecurity is the word of God.

Proverbs 3:5-6 is one of my life verses. I go back to it all the time and I write it in almost every book that I sign. I have realised that questions in life are always a matter of trust – will I trust God or not? A mentor of mine used to say ‘Trust doesn’t worry and worry doesn’t trust.’ So, when I am afraid or facing doubt over a situation I will go back to that verse and remind myself that I have a choice – trust or worry.

I also regularly repeat to myself that ‘God will never leave me or forsake me’ and that ‘no weapon formed against me will prosper’.

Finally, I remind myself that God has never let me down, and never will, but He cannot force me to trust – that is my choice alone. And the more I understand His nature and character through the word of God, the easier it will be to let go of fear and to trust Him.

Part of Unshakeable Confidence unpacks the ways in which words bring life. What authors/books inspire you?

Without bing flippant, the Bible inspires me more than any other book. I am passionate about choosing to read, believe and declare the scriptures everyday!

I also enjoy reading books about those who have walked in a bold faith, seeing miracles and trusting God for the impossible – Rees Howells, Hudson Taylor and John G. Lake to name a few.

Plus I enjoy reading biographies about great leaders – seeing how they have overcome, persevered and held strong to their beliefs in the midst of challenges always inspires me.

What’s your prayer for those about to read you book and set out on that journey with you?:

I pray that any woman who has struggled (or is struggling) with fear and insecurity – like I have – would have an encounter with God and be set free to live unashamedly her best life. That she would discover a new level of freedom in Christ and that her identity as a daughter of the King would propel her to step out in faith and live a life of boldness.

Finally, that she would discover what it means to have ‘Kingdom confidence’ - neither hiding away in silence, nor speaking loudly in arrogance . . . both of which stem from insecurity.

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Find out more about Jen's ministry at jenbaker.co.uk