Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Identiy lost Identify found

I sat in a coffee shop a few weeks back with a friend.  It was my first night out without the baby or my husband in what feels like a very long time.  I was pumped.  A Saturday night all to myself?  A Saturday night to just sit in a coffee shop, sip my decaf coffee and not worry about having to rush because the baby needed to be fed or had to get to bed.  Wonderful!

And in a lot of ways it was wonderful.  I got to catch up with my friend.  I got to enjoy an entire cup of coffee uninterrupted (and if you are a coffee drinking mom you know just how wonderful that is).  I got to be outside of my house.  

Then there was the part that was not so wonderful.  The part I am still struggling with.  Identity.  As I sat in this cute coffee shop I looked at my friend.  She sat across from me sporting really, really cute patent, gray heels, a black sweater, mustard scarf and jeans.  She was wearing heels on a Saturday night.  And she had the most beautiful gray leather Nine West bag.  She looked fabulous.  She looked so put together.  

I don't remember what I was wearing, but when I left my house I knew it was a step up from the yoga pants and t-shirt I had worn that day so I was feeling good.  But something happened as I sat across from my beautiful friend as we talked about her job and how it was going.  I started to feel lost.  I was always the girl with the cute shoes.  I was always the girl with the new, cute bag that I got for a killer bargain.  I was the girl...

So, if I was that girl, who am I now?  Who am I now that I can't afford new shoes or a cute handbag, even if it was a killer bargain?  Who am I now that I don't wear heels.  Like, ever.  Who am I now that I don't even know what the latest trends are (except I do know this whole ugly tights style with normal length shirts is in, and I'm sorry, I just can't get on board.  I could go on an entire rant, but maybe that will be an entire post).  Who am I?

I think that entering different life stages, especially motherhood, has a way of bringing us to an identity crisis.  For what seemed like a really long time I was a college student.  Then I graduated.  That was a tough identity crisis transition.  I worked for a few years with high school kids.  That job ended and I didn't know what to do with my life because for two years I was the girl who worked with high school kids.  

Here's what I'm learning and in no way have fully grasped- I can say until I'm blue in the face that my identity is in Christ, but if I sit in a coffee shop and wrestle with who I am because my shoes aren't cute than I do not fully believe my identity is in Christ and I need to continue to learn who I am in Him.  I know in my head who I am in Him.  I know what the Bible says about who I am.  But I am not believing it.

So, I want to post a video I watched today that my friend shared on Facebook.  I hope that it encourages you the way it encouraged me.  And I hope today, whether you have the cutest shoes, or you, like me, are wearing your worn out, old, stinky running sneakers that you would know that you, sweet reader, are so much more.  I hope today, we (yep, I'm writing this for me, too) believe we are who God says we are and we stop limiting our identity to what we wear, what we've grown up believing about ourselves, and/or what others say we are.


You are loved.  You are created in God's image to be loved and to be known by Him.  And trust me on this one, He's so much more than an amazing pair of shoes or a handbag.  And we're created for more than cute shoes and name brand handbags. 

Message to All Women  Click that link to watch the video!!

No comments:

Post a Comment