When I am asked to introduce myself, an avalanche of words pop into my brain. I am...mother. Wife. Daughter. Sister. Friend. I am...writer. Woman. American. I am...candy addict. Lover of sleep. Voracious reader. Procrastinator. How is it that I need so many words to describe my own limited nature, and God encapsulates His in two?
Fifteen years ago, there were other words that could describe me, words that were said to my face. I was not a good person. The word we tossed around at church to describe someone who stopped going was "heathen." Another that comes to mind is "lost." And I've continued to carry those words, long after they ceased to be true.
It was a Sunday not too long ago, gathered with my Village, that someone offered me another perspective. It was Sarah who pointed out that I've changed from the person I once was; in fact, God promises His people again and again in the Bible that He will transform them, make them new. And I had to re-evaluate my identity in light of this revelation. This series, in fact, has helped me see things more clearly.
I am...loved.
I am...creative.
I am...a leader.
I am...a student.
I am...no longer ashamed.
I am...a voice for the voiceless.
Perhaps most important, in the words of Jonathan and Melissa Helser, "I'm no longer a slave to fear. I am a Child of God." There is freedom in correctly identifying who I am, whose I am, what my purpose is. This is what I wish for each of you reading these words. That your identity would be rooted in the truth, that you would see yourself clearly, that you would no longer feel enslaved, but free.
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