Ep. 145: Nathan Clarkson on finding the courage to be seen.
What happens if the shoe doesn’t drop? What happens if you find the thing that you were looking for?
In this episode of MercyCast, I sit down with Nathan Clarkson—actor, filmmaker, and author of the new book I Am the Worst: How Freedom Is Found in Admitting Our Faults—for one of the most honest conversations we’ve ever had about identity, acceptance, and healing.
We talk about why Jesus tells us to pay attention to the log in our own eye before we reach for the speck in someone else’s—and why doing that isn’t about shame, but about freedom. Nathan shares how learning to face his own failures, cracks, and darkness didn’t destroy him. Instead, it became “not a wall that broke me, but a bridge to healing that recreated me.”
We explore how busyness often disguises itself as virtue, especially in fast-paced places like New York, and how noise can become a way of avoiding stillness—because stillness forces us to look inward. As Nathan puts it, “Stillness is hard because it forces us to listen to the parts of ourselves we’d rather drown out.”
This episode goes deep into how many of us build our identity on what we do—our productivity, success, relationships, or reputation—and how fragile that foundation really is. Nathan shares vulnerably about seasons where his ability to “do” was taken away, forcing him to confront a terrifying but liberating truth that you are not loved because of what you accomplish, but because you are made in the image of God.
We also talk about the power of community, why healing never happens alone, and how asking for help is not weakness—it’s faith. Sometimes, the holiest prayer we can pray is just one word: help.
At the core of this conversation is a truth we all need to hear again and again:
You are more broken than you want to admit—and more loved than you ever dared to believe.
What We Talk About in This Episode
Why acceptance is the first step toward real change
How facing our own faults leads to freedom, not shame
The danger of confusing busyness with worth
Why identity rooted in accomplishment always leads to exhaustion
The role of stillness in spiritual and emotional healing
How vulnerability becomes a bridge to grace
Why community is essential for redemption
How asking for help opens the door to transformation
What it truly means to be loved unconditionally
Key Takeaways
Healing begins when we stop hiding
Stillness reveals what busyness conceals
Our identity cannot survive on performance alone
Weakness, when admitted, becomes a doorway to grace
Community carries us when we can’t carry ourselves
Freedom is found on the other side of honesty
Our worth is rooted in being God’s image-bearers—not our achievements
If you’re tired of trying to prove yourself…
If you’re exhausted from holding it all together…
If you’re afraid of what you might find if you slow down…
This episode is for you.
Listen now and discover why admitting our faults may be the first step toward real freedom.
Listen to the full episode:
For more conversations like this one, check out my book, Vulnerable: Rethinking Human Trafficking.