As a child, I spent a lot of time by myself. Since the school I attended was small, it didn’t offer me a whole lot of choices for a good friend. The only time I had a close friend was when I was in Grade 8 but she was in Grade 12 so after she graduated, I was on my own again. My parents had many good friends but all their kids were younger than me. I didn’t feel I had someone who was in my corner; and I just didn’t seem to fit in.
I was different. I thought differently than most of my peers; I was hungry for God and not interested in what most of the teens were interested in. I remember listening to my Walkman on sports trips trying to drown out what was going on at the back of the bus. I was dedicated to my studies and was a diligent student. I yearned to fit in yet I didn’t want to sell myself short by compromising and giving in to peer pressure.
As I grew into my adult years, once again, I didn’t feel as though I fit in with mother groups, prayer groups, or ministry groups. I attributed a lot of the “not filling in” to my struggle with my weight. I thought I might fit in better if I was skinnier but, once again, I looked around the gym full of 20-somethings and I still didn’t feel like I fit in. It wasn’t until I took the “21st Century Game Changers” 13-week study in 2015 that I began to understand who I was on earth and how I am known in heaven. I understood that I have a personal identity and when I know what that is and have the understanding to live it out, I don’t have to fit in; I can be confident just to be me.
The identity crisis that society is experiencing is due to the misunderstanding of who we really are and how God sees us. He has given each of us a unique destiny to fulfil with certain capabilities and qualities that set us apart from everyone else. Not one of us is a cookie cutter of another person. We are all very unique.
You will also find that people will treat us differently when we begin to live out who we truly are by God’s design. Graham Cooke reassures us that “it does not matter how other people perceive you. It matters how you perceive yourself. Only you can live your life. ...We are not too old and we are not too young. We are just the right age for something brilliant to happen.”
Start the conversation with yourself and with God. Begin to express yourself through a journal. Ask Holy Spirit to give you some scriptures that you can claim as your own (these are called inheritance scriptures). Ask Him how heaven sees you and begin to start seeing yourself that way. Study Jesus and and ask Him what He has to say about you. If you have any personal prophetic words, those are also part of your identity. Ask others to pray and prophesy over you to bring further clarity. Become a student of yourself and attach importance to this identity journey you are on. “You are here by design because God wants you to know this is how you are known on earth.”
You are on an amazing journey of discovery! I am praying for revelation for you to discover your true identity! Let’s talk about this again next week!
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
