The Truth About Our Identity – Questions 2 & 3

(Continued from Yesterday’s Blog and the “SHE – Girls Night Out”)

2. In a world that is filled with comparison, how have you stayed firm in your identity and avoided the traps of comparison?

I can’t say that I have stayed firm or avoided the traps of comparison. When I was a child, I wanted to be like Shirley Temple on the Good Ship Lollipop. I wanted her curly hair and her cuteness. When I was a teenager, I wanted to be like Annette Funicello and have a boyfriend like Frankie Avalon. By the way, I did get a boyfriend that looked like Frankie Avalon.

When I was a young married mom, I wore my hair like Farrah Fawcett and wanted to be like June Cleaver in the “Leave it to Beaver” TV Show. And, as a young married wife, I wanted to be outgoing and confident and the epitome of a faith filled woman like other godly women. And, now, I see Dolly Parton who is 76 years old and perky as ever and I want to get her beauty treatments and be perky.

Comparison is ego driven and takes our eyes off the PERFECT ONE! When we put ourselves in the limelight of comparison, we are putting His reflection into the background. God isn’t asking us to measure up to any other standards. He wants us to come to Him just as we are and love Him with all our hearts. Now, when I feel less than and comparing myself to others, I know I’m not leaning into Him. It was a pivotal moment in my life when I started making the desire of my heart to please Him as His beloved child while doing my best for Him instead of trying to impress others.

3) Was there a moment in your life when you felt like Christ revealed your identity in a deeper way?
TODAY — You know it was probably when I got this request to be on this panel today. And I started going through my life realizing how far I’ve come since being that shy and afraid little girl. And then, today, when my printer wouldn’t print. I was frustrated because this was the second time with the same issue. But, God used a frustration to love me and you and a gal from the Philippines.

I called HP’s Technical Team and was connected to Celestine who asked if she could connect to my computer to see what the issue was. As she is looking through the printer settings, I can hear her yawning several times. I remark “You must be very tired.” I tell her I can hear her yawning. She apologizes and tells me it’s 11:00 pm in the Philippines and without much sleep for the past five nights. The man she was in a relationship with for three years walked out on her.

I’m not going to question her business practices about discussing personal issues with a customer. I’m attributing it to God’s timing for her and me. I began to share with her about how valuable and loved she is by God that I could be His heart extended to her today. I told her about my husband passing and I could have mourned and grieved for him for a very long time, but instead, I became closer to God than ever before.

I told her about my blog. She wrote down the website name. I told her that if God is our #1 – then we will never need anyone else to feed our egos. I told her to lay down at night and shut her mind’s door on this man that is keeping her awake at night. Then I shared two scriptures with her “Him/Her I will keep in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on me (God). And, “God gives His beloved sleep”. And the scripture references. She wrote them down.

Then she told me she had been to a Christian Therapist who told her to listen to worship music when she goes to bed at night and to stop the thoughts about this man. I told her to find a Christian church where people will love her and support her. She told me she would and, in tears, expressed how grateful she was that I spoke into her.

BTW — What I was trying to print out, were the words to Lauren Daigle’s song “You Say”. She saw them on my computer and I told her to take a picture of them because the words would encourage her.
My identity wasn’t stoked from that call, but my IN HIM identity, my mission and my purpose was made clear. I stoked God’s identity and was assured that this call was a divine set-up for her, me, and you!

I think that every time that we step out of our comfort zones to lift Jesus higher in our conversations with others that we become stronger and more confident in HIS great I-AM-dentity!

Stay tuned for Question 4 tomorrow!