What if the pressure to “do it right” is actually keeping you from doing it at all?
Samantha Wells returns to the podcast, in part two, with the real story behind writing her first Bible study and the internal battle she faced along the way. From perfectionism and doubt to a two-year wrestle with the “big idea,” Samantha opens up about what it really took to move her God-shaped dream from concept to completion.
IF YOU’VE EVER STRUGGLED TO FINISH BECAUSE YOU FEARED DOING IT WRONG, THIS IS THE EPISODE FOR YOU.
Together, we explore how God worked through her insecurities and pride, the small faithful steps she took even when clarity was missing, and the peace that came from releasing the outcome to Him. Her honesty will resonate if you’ve ever felt stuck, unsure, or paralyzed by procrastination, even when you deeply believe in the work you’ve been called to do.
Here’s what you’ll learn:
🧩 Practical strategies to overcome perfectionism and procrastination
🙏 Why trusting God for the impact helps you take the next step in faith
💬 How to move forward when you're afraid of what others might think
Whether your dream is to write, teach, lead, or create, this conversation will remind you that obedience matters more than polish, and that progress (even messy) is still progress. You don’t have to wait until you feel ready to say yes to God’s call.
Press “play” and be reminded that He wants to use you and your dream in His restoration story.
CONNECT WITH MERRITT:
Website || Facebook || Instagram
CONNECT WITH SAMANTHA:
Website || Nehemiah Bible Study
Get your hands on Samantha’s new Bible study: Nehemiah: Labor, Longing, and the Promise of Restoration.
Get Samantha’s free guide: How to Read the Old Testament
MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:
Come to the next Dream Out Loud call where you can practice talking about your dream with other dreamers.
Scripture:
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory
because of your steadfast love and faithfulness.
~ Psalm 115:1 (NIV)
Enjoy This Episode?
Here are some others you might also like:
Ep 268: How Weakness Will Show Us the Way Back to Ourselves Apple | Spotify
Ep 283: Why Taking Action Is the Secret to Clarity for Your Dream Apple | Spotify
Ep 313: How to Feel More Capable When You’re Starting a Dream Apple | Spotify
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The unedited transcript for this episode of The Devoted Dreamers Podcast follows:
Hey, dreamer—
Welcome to episode 347 of the Devoted Dreamers Podcast. Today we are talking all about:
How to Move Forward When Procrastination Holds You Back.
What if the pressure to “do it right” is actually keeping you from doing it at all?
If you’ve ever wrestled with feeling not “good enough” to pursue the thing God has put on your heart… you’re in good company.
My guest today – back for part 2 – is Samantha Wells.
And in this one she pulls back the curtain on her Bible study writing journey and talks honestly about the perfectionism and procrastination that almost kept her stuck—and how God gently led her out of that place.
We’re covering this topic because so many of us struggle with it. Every one of my clients talks about the battle with perfectionism (and honestly, I have to raise my hand too to that one).
The temptation to keep tweaking whatever you’re working on until it’s finally “good enough” has such a strong pull for those of us who are prone to be performance oriented.
But this beautiful conversation with Samantha, hopefully, will teach us and play a part in helping us all figure out what to do differently.
Sam and I talk about what it looks like to keep moving even when you’re unsure and trusting that your obedience matters more than what people might think of you.
And if you’ve ever spent way too long wrestling with your “big idea,” you're going to feel so seen.
This one is full of wisdom, practical encouragement, and some sweet reminders that your dream doesn’t have to be polished to make an impact.
I cannot wait for you to hear it.
And then, if you’re ready to take the next step, it’s time for you to get acquainted with our growing Devoted Dreamers community by attending the next Dream Out Loud call.
This is where we talk about our dreams and take a baby step to keep moving forward. If you show up ready for some deep encouragement from fellow dreamers, you’re going to walk away so encouraged. Want some of that? All you have to do is RSVP at merrittonsa.com/dreamoutloud and come to the call!
Hey there,
I’m your host Merritt Onsa – a Christian life coach — I’m kinda like the Joanna Gaines for women of faith who have big dreams about how God might re-order the second half of your life — so you can use your gifts and life experiences to usher in beauty, redemption, healing and service to others.
It’s not a re-design for your home that we’re working on….
It’s a brand-new way to live — in freedom… free from fear, free from second-guessing yourself all the time, and free from the lies that the enemy has used to keep you quiet and playing small in the past.
And isn’t it about time more of us who believe in Christ started living that way?!
I’m on a mission to engage 10,000 women worldwide to start taking intentional and purposeful steps that will bring their God-shaped dreams to life!
If you believe in Jesus, and you see His work in your life and are aware that you’ve been given gifts, talents, and a life story that could serve and benefit others. … maybe you’re among those 10,000.
I hope that you are…
Because you’re here listening to a podcast about dreams – maybe you’re looking for a chance to see if your dream has LEGS. You want to try it on for size and figure out if it’s possible. You want to be inspired and encouraged that there’s hope for what you’ve been dreaming all these years.
Maybe you’ve been too fearful in the past. Or someone dashed your dreams with a comment that hit too close to home. Or you just haven’t had time to figure out how to proceed.
Well, my friend…This is Your time. This is Your space.
If you have big ideas for how God could use the gifts He’s given you and the years of your life that remain, and you have a dream that would serve others – let’s figure out how to turn that heartfelt hidden dream into real, actionable plans with impact for God’s kingdom work in the world.
Merritt Onsa:
Samantha Wells, welcome back to the Devoted Dreamers Podcast. This is part two.
Samantha Wells:
Thank you for having me, Merritt.
Merritt Onsa:
So we're going to talk a little bit more about the practical side of what it looked like to pursue a dream of writing and speaking and specifically this Bible study on the book of Nehemiah that you have written. But will you—as we begin, if somebody's just hearing you for the first time—will you briefly describe your God-shaped dream to us again?
Samantha Wells:
Yes, I write and speak to help women deepen their faith and find hope through the storyline of scripture. So I've initially done that through writing a Bible study.
Merritt Onsa:
Yay. And it is available. You can find it on Amazon.
But let's dig into what you've learned from the experience, specifically for the listener to help her a little bit see herself in your journey, whether her dream has anything to do with writing or not.
My hope is that someone would listen to this conversation and be able to think about what next steps there are for her and her specific dream.
So let's talk about steps. Once you knew this was the dream, what were some of the first steps you took to move forward?
Samantha Wells:
So I, let's see. Well, there were kind of two parts. I initially had the dream of writing and then a few years later had the dream of writing a Bible study. So when the writing dream started, there were a few things that happened. One was, I started just paying attention to Christian writers and how they wrote, how often they wrote.
Trying to think what else I was paying attention to—I was 16, so I don't remember all of the things that I learned. I was just kind of getting a sense of what did this world feel like.
But then I was also learning on the publishing side. What does it look like to, whether that's short form, what does it look like to have a blog? What does it look like to contribute articles or devotionals to different people's blogs or whatever?
But then I was also starting to do some research on publishing in terms of how can I self-publish? What would it look like to do traditional publishing? And so I just started to get a sense of what does this world entail? Because I knew that if I was going to be a writer, I was going to have to do more than just write.
And one of the other things was speaking. And so I got, over time, some practice on speaking and teaching, which definitely does not come as easily as writing, but I do enjoy it. And so that's where it started, was just kind of getting a feel for everything.
So after I got that initial foundation, then—I was still in high school at the time and I was trying to figure out what do I, what does it look like to pursue this? And I was talking to my parents who, they are very practical people, but they are also big dreamers. it's kind of…
I'm really grateful for them because I think my personality is uber practical and I probably would have done something that had just a very, very clear career path. I would never have pursued writing if it weren't for them saying, okay, yes, writing would be hard to pursue, but here are some different ways that you could do that without sacrificing the practicality of you need to make money and live life. And so we talked about exactly,
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, pay for your life.
Samantha Wells:
we talked about that and always had my plan of how I was going to make money.
and at the same time was able to pursue a degree in biblical studies. And that was really amazing because through that I was able to learn and get these tools and resources that I can now take into teaching today.
And so started there. I did take some writing classes as well, so was honing my craft as well while I was there.
And then when I decided to write a Bible study, I remember thinking, I don't even know what Bible studies look like. I've done like two. I have read my Bible for years, but I haven't done many actual Bible studies. And so I just asked for people if they had a copy of a Bible study that they liked, if they could share it with me. And I just started to study, you know,
What kind of questions do they ask? How do they organize it? Because I wanted to see what's a framework that communicates well.
And the fun thing through that was there were some that I liked and some that I didn't like, but I got to learn what it looked like for me to write a Bible study by observing others. And my goal was not to mimic them or copy them. It was to see how they thought and see their framework and then say, okay, that little gem I might be able to incorporate from this person, but maybe there's a gem from this person I incorporate, or maybe after seeing both of them, I get to take those together and make it this new thing.
And so that really helped me discover my style. And then I just started writing and made a first draft pretty much cut it all and then wrote a second draft. Yes.
Merritt Onsa:
As it should be, right?
Ah, a little secret. That's what we did with this podcast episode. We did our first draft. Forgot to record. So, you know, here's part two.
Yeah, it's better. It's better the second time for sure. You got to create garbage in order to create something beautiful.
Yeah, so, in that process, and I'm sure like me, there are people listening like: she was 16! I did not have that clarity at 16 or 26, maybe not even 36.
But I'm curious, there may be more than one thing, but what's one thing that you didn't know that you didn't know that now you're like, I'm so glad I know that?
Samantha Wells:
I would say one of the biggest things that if I could rewind and do this differently or just move forward and do my next one differently, it would be around procrastination. And there's a couple of different directions I would say for that.
So one of them was when I was writing, I agonized, I kid you not, for two years about the big idea of the study and wanting to reframe it and rephrase it and just say it better. And I still think I could say it better, but eventually I got to the point of...
I just have to move forward. I can't figure out how to say it better. And I will say, I agonized for so long over that, once I got beta readers, no one was confused about the big idea. So even if I could say it better, no one said, ugh, I don't get it.
And so in that sense, I think it would have been helpful to start the beta reading process earlier and get feedback. Because I was talking with people, but I think once you actually go through the study, you get to, you see it in context and no one was confused. So that would have just been probably good for helping me move forward a little bit faster.
And then later on, I think. I did this a little bit better than I have in the past, but my tendency is again around perfectionism and I want to make sure everything's perfect before I move forward and I will say my call for beta readers was I had this idea one day and I said if I don't post something on Facebook today I will not do it. And so I had no process in place for how I was going to get you guys the study. I just was like I'm going to figure it out and I'm going to make myself figure it out if I just start. And I wish I had taken that approach a little bit more because and not let fear hold me back.
Merritt Onsa:
Mmm. So a little bit of throwing caution to the wind for those of us who are extra cautious.
Samantha Wells:
And it's not that,
I still had a lot of other things were planned, but there were times when I think the difference was I knew what I needed to do and I had the things. I just was scared about making it seamlessly perfect. And I didn't need to worry about that.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, like what did you believe that would have done for you if it was seamlessly perfect?
Samantha Wells:
It's, I think it's a pride thing. I think it's just, I want to look professional and look like I know what I'm doing and all of these things. And it doesn't have to be that. Well, I think just remembering, again, it's not about me. This is, if God's called me to this and I get to be faithful and walk in obedience, this is about bringing glory to Him and not me looking like, you know, I know how to communicate with beta readers.
Merritt Onsa:
Oh my gosh, isn't that the truth? I mean, I struggle with the same things, perfectionism, procrastination, that they're very tied together. The same call that I mentioned to you in the first part of this conversation, someone said something about, like it's the vulnerability, it's the imperfection that draws people in and makes them want to engage with you, know more about you because you seem more human rather than a robot or, know, like, and isn't it funny that we are still like, how do I not make any mistakes? How do I do this perfectly?
So yeah, I'm with you. A little bit of a pride struggle there or big, big, it is hard.
Samantha Wells:
It’s hard.
Merritt Onsa:
It is hard. Well, and also the piece of like, I'm doing this not just for me, I'm doing it to, I want to be clear. I want to make sense. I don't want to confuse anyone. I want this to glorify God. So there's pieces of that that are not bad. But yeah, when we kind of make it about our appearance or how we're perceived.
That can be a trap.
Samantha Wells:
What you just said about how we're perceived, think that was a big light bulb for me was realizing that that was me realizing, oh, I've twisted this from I want to do excellent work for the glory of God to I do want that.
But also the problem comes that I don't just care about doing excellent work for the glory of God. I also want to make sure that they think that I am doing excellent work for the glory of God. Like it's, I'm getting in the way of that ultimate goal and that needs to not happen.
Merritt Onsa:
Yes, well, Lord, please refine us. We need it. He knows that.
Maybe talk about a particular, whether it's like a logistical or practical piece of this process of writing a Bible study or something like more internal or mindset. When was this hard? Like where were the hard, difficult parts, minus the two years you spent trying to get the big idea worked out. What were some other like hard roadblocks, things that you had to get over to get to a finish line.
Samantha Wells:
I would say… it's interesting because it was challenging. The writing process was challenging. I won't say it wasn't. And yet that was, and sometimes it was frustrating, but it was more of a good kind of challenging. I think the harder part was the couple months before the launch because that was when the fear started kicking in.
Which I am very much… it's kind of funny actually whenever I teach in front of a group I don't get nervous until maybe the day of but usually the hour of. I'm fine up until that point.
And I'm excited. And then we get to an hour before and I'm like, that's what I'm doing. I forgot.
And it kind of felt the same way with the study where this whole time I'm just so thrilled to be writing a Bible study. And then we get down to crunch time and I'm thinking, is this actually any good? Is this ever going to go anywhere? Is this, you know, is it crazy that I'm putting hours of my time into setting up a website and, you know, hiring a book cover designer and doing all of these things or should I just give it up?
And it is crazy how many times… I've known for years that this is what I'm supposed to do and yet I definitely wrestled with a lot of the questions of I don't know if I am really cut out for this in that final crunch time. So I don't remember if that answered your full question or if that was just part of it, but…
Merritt Onsa:
Even if it didn't, I love that answer. And I wonder if it's connected to what you said in the earlier response about like concern about how other people will see me. You know, this is now going to be more public. I cannot control who has access to it nor can I do anything about what their response is going to be. And that's a real, that's a battle within.
Like to think that you would have spent all those years and come to the end and think, should I give it up? I mean, doesn't it sound absurd now? Yeah.
Samantha Wells:
Right. It does. This is kind of funny though. Funny is the wrong word. This is a really beautiful thing. I was, I am actually not one that thinks a lot about the word calling. I, sometimes I think people over-spiritualize that.
Merritt Onsa:
Agree.
Samantha Wells:
And so I don't always use that word, but for whatever reason, there was one week leading up to the launch where I was just agonizing over, this what I'm called to do? And that was when I was wrestling with those questions of, I give this up? I don't know if I should do this.
And someone, one of my beta readers actually, she had no idea I was wrestling with these things. But I hadn't seen her in a while and we ran into each other at church and it was right in this crazy moment. She needed to run off to go do something. There's a bunch of people around us, but she looked directly at me and she said, “Sam, this is your calling. Never stop.”
And again, she had no idea what I was thinking about. She just said those words and then had to like follow her kid and go do something else. But I just remember stopping and going, thank you, God. Because normally I wouldn't need, I wouldn't want that word, know, specifically. But that word was so clearly like God was saying, don't give this up.
Keep going even though you're afraid. And so I just was really grateful for that during that kind of challenging season.
Merritt Onsa:
That's awesome. And it just popped into my head, like, okay, you said you're 26 years old. God willing, you live a long life. Like think about the decades of impact that God could use this calling to draw women to himself and to his word through your, Yes.
I love that. I love that.
Samantha Wells:
Mm-hmm. That's the prayer.
Merritt Onsa:
Well, let's bring it back to his word. Where are you encouraged and inspired towards this dream in Scripture? What's kept you going from his word when things felt hard?
Samantha Wells:
That reminds me of a specific blog post that I shared actually a few years ago. This was before I got married. I was single and I very clearly did not want to be the Christian writer that wrote about singleness ever. Did not want to be that person. And I don't know what happened, but it just. It was one of those times where it again seemed so clear that God was saying you have to do this, and I really didn't want to but I did it.
So I was working on a blog post on contentment and really doing a deep dive into Philippians 4 which is the stereotypical contentment passage, but I wanted to answer some deeper questions and anyways, that's a tangent but I wrote this post.
And then I got to, I even put it on my blog, but then I got to the part of sharing it on social media. And I just, I felt sick to my stomach. I did not, it felt so vulnerable to put that in front of people.
And I remember going to bed that night praying about it and saying, God, I just don't want to do this. I do not want to share this post. It feels so scary. And it also felt embarrassing because I didn't want to be the Christian girl that wanted to be married, but I was.
And so I was praying about that and I never do this, but I just felt like he was wanting me to open up scripture. And so I opened to a random page. The first thing that I read was “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory because of your steadfast love and faithfulness.” I read that one verse from the one Psalm I said, I get it, God. I closed the Bible. I went to bed and the next day I shared it on social media.
And that was just. It's kind of a silly example, but it felt like he was so clearly comforting me and saying, remember why you do this. Don't get hung up on these other fears because your work is good and there is a good purpose that's beyond you. So that has been a really encouraging thing to think back on in these moments.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah, and sometimes I think that the whole, like all the fear that we feel when we're about to be vulnerable and exposed and put our things out into the world, I just feel like he is...
for every yes that we are willing to step into that fearful thing, he's like, yeah, I'm going to help you work through that and realize like fear doesn't have to be the dominant feeling in that moment. Like he wants to walk us away from that being our default. And the only way is for us to have a lot of practice. Walking away from that being our default. So do you remember where that verse is?
Samantha Wells:
Let's see, I have it. I think I wrote it down, but I don't remember. Psalm 115:1, yes.
Merritt Onsa:
I have it too somewhere. 115:1.
Awesome. Okay. Great. Well, you had something that you've created that you wanted to share with the listener. So will you talk about that?
Samantha Wells:L
Sure. So I have a guide that is basically a guide to help people, help women, understand the Old Testament. There's a lot of books and passages that are a little bit more challenging to approach. And so I created a guide that basically has five questions. If you ask and answer these questions as you're reading scripture, I just believe that it'll help bring you to deeper understanding. So I'd love to share that with anyone who's interested. So you can go to samanthawells.com/devoted dreamers if that sounds like something that would benefit you.
Merritt Onsa:
Yay, okay. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Had you written that before you did the Bible study? Or is that kind of a result of?
Samantha Wells:
it's a result of. wanted something that helped when someone finished studying Nehemiah, I wanted them to be able to continue their study. Even if they didn't have a Bible study, I wanted them to have tools that would help them to continue to go deeper. So that's where that came from.
Merritt Onsa:
Yeah.
That's awesome. Way to go.
We're gonna close with this. Is there any advice that you would offer to the woman who is listening to us talking today or watching on YouTube, If she's been waiting to start, feeling stuck in procrastination, feeling held back by fear, like any of those things that we've talked about, what would you say to encourage her?
Samantha Wells:
I would say that well one thing that I would say:
If you are struggling with what I mentioned earlier, which was this fear of how other people see you, particularly that one, I think it can be challenging to move forward saying, you know, I don't know if this is going to matter. I don't know if this going to have a big impact. And so maybe I just shouldn't do it. But I think something that's helpful is remembering the difference between deep versus wide impact.
And something that I'm rehearsing to myself right now is I don't know how many people are going to buy the study and go through it. I hope that God will use it. But even if the number feels small, if women go through the study and love and know God more because of it, then it was worth me putting in the time to make this.
And so my encouragement to you would be if there's something that you can do that even feels small, but brings value to the people around you, even if it makes it way less far than you think it should, I think it's worth taking a step forward and trusting God with the outcome.
Merritt Onsa:
Well, I know that your Bible study absolutely impacted me and clearly we're having multiple conversations about Samantha Wells' Nehemiah Bible study. So yes, I would agree with that, that it’s not about how wide, how far our work is publicized or published, what's the word?
But God is, if he's put it on your heart, he's gonna use it for something, for someone. And you might never know who that person is, but it doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. So…
So awesome, Sam. Well, I just wanna encourage everyone again, go to Amazon, find the Nehemiah Bible study. Let's see if I can remember it. Labor and longing and.
restoration. hope for hope for the promise of restoration. Yes, it's fabulous. Go grab that.
Thank you so much, Sam, for being here to share your journey. It's been a privilege to just hear little bits of your story and to get to share it with the world.
Samantha Wells:
Well, thank you for having me. It was wonderful to chat.
Merritt Onsa:
Whew… wasn’t that so good?
I loved how she reminded us that it’s not about having it all figured out or impressing anyone—it’s about being faithful with what God has given us, right where we are.
And I think that’s something we all need to hear again and again: your obedience matters more than the outcome.
The approval you’re looking for? The validation you want?
You already have it in Jesus.
If something from today’s conversation stirred your heart or gave you a new perspective, I’d love to hear from you. Send me a DM on Instagram @merrittjo, or share this episode with a friend who’s been wrestling with her own God-shaped dream.
And before you go, don’t miss the special freebie Samantha mentioned—her resource to help women better understand the Old Testament. You’ll find the link in the show notes or just go to samanthawells.com/devoteddreamers
~~
Looking for additional support to bring that God-shaped dream to life?
Remember to join us at the next Dream Out Loud call where you’ll hear how other image bearers of God are stepping into dreams that will shine His light to the world.
Get all the details when you sign up at merrittonsa.com/dreamoutloud
Finally….
Daughter of the King,
You were made for a beautiful purpose, your identity and security rest in Him, as does your dream because the Lord is good and His ways are always good! No weapon formed against you will prosper because you belong to Him.
Until next week, stay faithful, keep dreaming and remember: trusting God with your next step doesn’t mean it isn’t going to be scary. It means taking the step anyway.
You’re welcome here among women braving those scary steps in faith, knowing our dreams matter because they are His.
Until next time,
I’m Merritt Onsa, your dream coach and sister in Christ, walking by faith, with you, in the dream.
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