who are you?

Being it's Valentine's Day, I expected to see more Facebook statuses displaying the unofficial renaming of February 14: Happy Single Awareness Day! 

I only saw one so far. And it didn't end with an exclamation point. I actually sensed a sarcastic disappointment behind the words.   

Maybe most of my Facebook connections are now either married or in a relationship? 

Or maybe people don't care to announce their singleness to the world? 

Either way, this day has me thinking about something.

And it's not chocolate hearts, dinner for two, or my relationship status.

But rather, identity... 

  
Before I move on, I'll take this time to be honest with you. My own journey in singleness has had it's times of disappointments, tears, and struggles. I've made some choices that invited hurt into my life. I have made some choices that hurt others. It's been a bumpy ride at times, but I have learned a lot through some of the most challenging times. Thank you, God, for grace and restoration!

While every step along the way has been a part of the learning, these last two years something extremely significant has been happening...

I'm learning about identity.

True identity...I'm learning to live from my true identity as a daughter of God.

This identity...this role...will never change...no matter the season of life I find myself in. Just as God is steadfast and unchanging, so can be my embracing my identity as a daughter of God. 

When we find our core identity in anything other than being a child of God and seasons of life change, we will move into a new season and will struggle because we won't know who we are anymore.

For example - If my sole identity is, "I am single" and I enter into a relationship and get married...I am no longer single. The things that defined my singleness are no longer reality. Now I am married. I am a wife. And I don't know what that means or looks like because I'm not single anymore. If my core identity was in my relational status, I am not going to know who I am or how to "be" or what to "do" in this new place.

This isn't just in our relationship status. It applies to all realms of life and any transitions. From junior high to high school. High school to college. College to whatever you want to call this time after college. Job transitions. You name it.

I was thinking about this post earlier today. It was written as I transitioned jobs a couple years ago. I wavered because I didn't know who I was. I wasn't rooted in the identity God had given me. 

But when our sole identity is rooted in being a son or daughter of God...in Christ...living our lives believing who God says we truly are...we can be steadfast no matter the season of life.
No matter our relationship status. 
No matter what career changes come our way. 
No matter what is going around us.

We can know who we truly are.
And live from that place to influence this world for generations to come.
We have a purpose beyond the titles and roles the world gives us.

So whether you are single, married, divorced, in a relationship, in your teens, in your 90s, living in this city, living on the other side of the world...who are you? Do you know that Jesus has made the way for you to have a restored relationship with Father God? That you were born to be a powerful and free son or daughter of God? Do you embrace it? Has that revelation changed you from the inside out? 

Because it will when you invite God to:
talk to you about it...
reveal it to you...
guide you into encounters with Him
teach you to activate the truth in your life...

YOU were created with purpose, a world changing identity, and with such brilliance...

Happy Valentines Day!