We all need to know who we are - where we come from. Where we are going. As a personality profile junkie, I can get overly fascinated with how I’m wired. Sometimes indulging in those silly online quizzes (you know, the ones that somehow promise to take what you ate for breakfast and the middle name of your best friend and miraculously tell you which Disney character you most resemble…) “Oh, that’s totally me!” I say when I get a result I agree with. ...But sometimes, when it’s a little off, I just tend to chalk it up to poor quiz writers. Somehow I can always twist the results to suit what I want to hear.
Almost daily, around my right wrist sits a little block of stamped clay. CHOSEN. Tied around with its little gray elastic it is a visual reminder of the truth the Father speaks of me. When God gave me this word, it was quite a surprise, honestly. I was not in any way, shape or form expecting to hear that particular word from Him. But like a firebrand, clear as day and searing hot it burned on my heart. Chosen.
I so often qualify the things I am. I am a teacher, but do people think I’m a good teacher? I am a friend, but how have I been doing keeping up with certain relationships? Probably not all that great. I am a daughter, but when was the last time I really connected deeply with my parents? I feel the weight of you can do better at this pushing down on me. Or I define myself by what has happened or not happened in my life. I’ve been rejected a time or two. It hurts. It cuts deep. When you hear the same words over and over, you start to wonder if it’s true about you. What did I do wrong to cause this? Is this my fault? But when I leaned in close enough to really, really hear what He had to say - not the voices that mock and shame - I got a big surprise - “chosen.”
Really, God?
Yes, really. You are CHOSEN.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
1 Peter 2:9
You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
John 15:16
Really? Okay. I’m gonna take Your word for it. Act like it’s true even when I don’t feel like it’s true.
When we truly desire to know who we are, we must look square in His face and wait for His words. We need to know Who our Father is. What is true of Him? He bestows our identity, and surprisingly enough, it has absolutely nothing to do with how good we are at things. It has nothing to do with what we’ve done or haven’t been able to do. It has nothing to do with what has happened to us. It has everything to do with Who He is. Because we have Jesus, when God looks at us, He sees Jesus. Before we ever step out into the world, He says to us the same thing He said to Jesus in Matthew 3:17.
“This is My beloved [daughter], in whom I am well-pleased.”
So my little MudLove bracelet (www.mudlove.com) reminds me daily who I am. I make sure I am wearing it especially when I know I am going to meet challenge in my day. In a way, it’s a little bit of putting on my very own spiritual armor. A little miniature belt of truth around my wrist.
When we step more fully into who God says we are, remarkable things start to happen in and around us.
What does God say about you? Have you asked Him lately? Go ahead...lean in close. Maybe you’ll be surprised by what He says.
“Search me, God, and know my heart. . . “
Psalm 139:23
~ Meredith M.
