Identity Thief

The enemy comes to steal, kill and destroy. Not sure if you’ve noticed this but I certainly have. Lately I’ve noticed that he’s been trying to steal my identity from me, perhaps trying to confuse me about my identity and where it comes from and Who it’s found in.

It’s been awhile since I’ve blogged and this one has really been on my heart, I’m not 100% sure how to get it out right and it potentially may turn into a series, but for now I thought I’d get super vulnerable and share something I wrote a few months ago in my journal…

“What a strange year! Yet rather than let it be a blip on the radar of my life, I’d like to learn from it, mature and develop character through it and come through wiser and more ready for the future. The biggest lesson so far – it’s not about what I DO for Him, what I do doesn’t complete me. It’s not about getting my identity from what I do. This year has involved me going from the role of a Youth Pastor and Worship Coordinator, preaching, leading worship and teams etc to starting in a brand new church, knowing no one, working as a PA, working in a school cafe, having no job, going back to the cafe, volunteering my time at Church for a new Ministry, with (back then) no preaching, no worship leading, no team leading….

So what happens when it’s all stripped away? It’s pretty raw. It takes time. It raises questions: what’s it all for, what’s it all about, who am I, why am I here?

Truth is, I’m sick of striving to BE someone, to be noticed or recognised or acknowledged. Over it! I want simplicity. If there’s promotion then I only want it from Him!

Part of me gets scared that my dreams won’t happen, that they’ll just die inside of me, that someone younger and more talented will come along, that I’ve missed it, but I guess ultimately my life is His and He gets the say on what happens in it anyway.

If I never preach again, am I OK with that?

If I am only a volunteer team member serving in my local Church for the rest of my days, am I OK with that?

Am I content with just me and Jesus, raw me. Not Youth Pastor me, not wife me, not preacher me, just me, with my identity and purpose in Christ alone?

It’s a hard tension because there’s a desire in me to see multitudes come to Christ, to preach in and to Nations, to raise a beacon of hope to a hurting generation, to hear a cry rise of worship to our great God – yet if none of that happens through my life, I can be content with that. Content in my Jesus.

A life surrendered.”

For me this year the hardest thing has been meeting so many new people and having them ask me “what do you do?” Not that there’s anything wrong with people asking me that, but have you noticed that’s what we always do, we ask people what they do and often in our minds without even realising it we subconsciously label them. By what they do. But what about WHO they are? The fact that I currently work in a cafe actually says very little about who I actually am. And let’s be honest, there’s nothing wrong with working in a cafe; it’s fun, a great environment, I get to chat with teenagers all day and that for me is more ministry than sitting in an office doing admin, plus the added bonus – it pays the rent!!

So, who are you? Not what do you do, although hopefully who you are comes out in what you do (my manager at the Cafe continually tells me what a great leader I am!) I feel like I’ll write more on this topic next week, but today I want to encourage you to not allow your identity to be stolen! We are first and foremost sons and daughters of the Most High, we are completed by who we are in Him not by what we do for Him, and what we do for our job, our kids, who we’re married to or the fact that we’re not married, our accomplishments or our failures…none of these things define who we are!

Jesus came to give us life, and life abundantly, whole and complete in who we are in Him!