Remember Who You Are
The other day might have been quite possibly one of the most frustrating difficult days of the entire year for me. I was frazzled, frustrated, scared, lonely, and hurt. I was at the end of my rope and about to break down at any second. I remember walking through the store about to burst into tears so I went into the bathroom to be alone. When I walked in and looked in the mirror I let loose. I cried and cried. I had been holding onto way too much junk and not talking to anyone about it. As I cried I looked down at the sink and saw a piece of a paper towel with handwriting on it. I picked it up and read these words: “Remember who you are”. There were little seagulls drawn around those beautiful words. I don’t know why but this note comforted me more than you would have thought.
A complete stranger had written those words and left them to be found by another stranger. God knew I needed that message. God knew that I needed to remember who I was. And who am I? These last few weeks that is exactly the question I have been asking myself. Who am I in this world? What is my purpose? What if my dreams and desires aren’t what God has planned for my life? What will I be doing 5 years from now? Who am I?
When we are focused on ourselves and all of these complicated questions we are not at peace. I was focused on me. The little “I” and “me” words were the center of my vocabulary. But God knew what to do. He knew that all I needed was a wake up call. I needed to remember who I was/am. I thought long and hard about those words. “Remember who you are.”
Who am I?
God needed to remind me that I am who He says I am. Not who my friends say I am. Not who I think I am. And not who my family is. I am Lisa. I needed to see that my past does not define me. My relationships do not define me. My relationship with my dad does not define me. Because I have a perfect Father. I have Someone who knows who I am to my deepest core. To the very bottom of my soul Jesus sees me. He knows me and still chooses to accept and love me.
In this day and age we put so many labels on who people are. Labels such as, freshman, junior, graduate with this major or that major, your position, your job, your relationship status, your race, your church, your school ect. The list could go on and on… But we are more than what we have been labeled as.
The world is a professional name defining force that can either cripple or empower people.
What you are defined by the world as has great power over you. If you’ve been defined as shy, a dork, a beauty queen ect, you will no doubt socialize differently than you would if you were alone in a room filled with your closest friends and family… If you haven’t accomplished what the world expects you to accomplish many people fall into depression.
The world does not need to be the defining force in our lives. Just because we don’t measure up perfectly according to what the world says we should be doing we should not let that conquer us. We should not let that run our lives, cause us to make wrong decisions, or change the way we really are. Remember who you are. Don’t fall into the worldly mindset. Don’t be defined by other people or by society.
Stay being you.
It’s easy to forget who we are in our day to day lives. We let things like feelings of loneliness, feelings of inadequacy and singleness get in the way of us being able to blossom into the beautiful unique girl God has created us to be. If we only knew the thoughts that God thinks of us, if we only knew how much He really cares for us we would never need the acceptance that the world dangles in front of our faces-just out of reach each and every day.
Shift Your Focus.
Quit thinking about what is wrong with you. There is nothing wrong with you! You need to choose to capture your thoughts- the good the bad and the ugly ones and choose to lay them at the cross and leave them there. Look to God to sustain you. Look to God when you are weak and tired of the world bombarding you with labels and reminding you of all your short comings. Instead-look to God, the perfect Father. It’s who He is. You are LOVED by Him. Choose to believe it. Ask God for more faith if you have a hard time believing it.
“When we acknowledge God’s supreme role in our life and set our mind on Him, He enables us to be women of hope.”
– Elizabeth George
I love that quote by Elizabeth George. Set your mind on Jesus. It’s the only thing that will lift you high above your circumstance.
“When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,
The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,
What is man that You are mindful of him,
And the son of man that You visit him?
For You have made him a little lower than the angels,
And You have crowned him with glory and honor.” Psalms 8:3-5