“I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.”
Psalm 139:14 ESV
I remember reading this verse years ago and the Lord revealed and gave me a breakthrough in my life when it came to my identity. I had struggled with my body image all my life. When the culture of the world has put so much pressure of focusing on the external beauty and not the actual inner beauty it is hard not to start comparing yourself and start believing the lie and not the truth of what God says. We start caring so much about how thin we are, or what clothes we have, or hair, just add to the endless list. We forget WHO our identity is in and we start to look at that verse and we may think that is for someone else.
I have been thinking in that mindset for the last few months. Right now I am probably the heaviest I have been. I’m not proud of that, but I can’t write this devotional and not be honest. It’s because I forgot my identity and worth and the weight of what that scripture means. My identity was caught up in my circumstances, having to start a whole new chapter, and then the pandemic hit. I forgot my worth. I forgot the cost I was worth. I “settled” in the lie of “this is who I am” and I dwelled in this victim mindset and became depressed and turned to food. This was the old me.
This is what God had freed me from, but I let my circumstances define my identity, not my God.
I began to feel shame and shame made me feel like there was nothing I could do, but God. He reminded me to not only confess these hardships to Him, but to His people. This is why we need each other! I was reminded of the freedom He had brought me. I was encouraged and convicted. I was reminded of who He truly created me to be. I was created in HIS IMAGE.
“So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created.” Genesis 1:27
I was turning to idols in my life that the Lord had freed me from and I forgot my worth and value in Him. I’m in the process of stepping into the victory and freedom God has for me, but my question for you is this: Who is your identity in?
Is it in your circumstances? Is it in what people have spoken over you? Is it in our old idols that God has freed us from? Jesus came to bring us freedom from our sin and from our old identities and He is reminding us to keep going. Don’t stay in our quarrel and our old ways, but keep moving forward. It is a process, but with Jesus, we will see His victory. WE HAVE NEW LIFE IN HIM.
“Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of charges against us and took it away by the nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross.” Colossians 2: 13-15 NIV
Don’t look back at our Egypt like in Exodus where when things were hard the Israelites wanted to go back to the place of bondage. Where we want to stay in our old ways and want to “go back.” (Exodus 14:12) During this time the Lord is reminding us to keep waiting and to keep trusting in Him. He is waking up His people and telling us it will not always be like this, but are we willing to put in the work? Are we going to remain faithful and diligent or give up and go back to what we’ve known?
We don’t have to be or look a certain way to know our identity and worth in Christ. The verse in Psalms 139 is a clear indication that it is our “SOULS KNOW IT VERY WELL.” Not our outer appearance, not our careers, not our income, not our beauty, our souls. I know these last few months have brought up past wounds, old mindsets, lies, and heartbreaks. The enemy wants us to stay there and forget the victory we have in Christ. He wants us to believe “this is who you are.” He wants to feed us the lies like “You’re ugly. Look how far you let yourself go. You have no purpose. How could God still love you.” LIES.
Your identity is in whom He loves.
He didn’t stop loving you when the weight went up. He didn’t stop loving you when the depression hit and the days seemed harder than ever before. He didn’t stop loving you when you put your circumstances before Him. He wants you to come back to Him. Run back to Jesus. Don’t look back, but look to Him. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal the scriptures that gave you victory. Seek the Father and He is faithful to show his heart to you and bring you freedom in Him. It is no longer of who we were but who we are meant to be because of Him.
- Sarah Sendejas
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