I am so excited to introduce you to my guest blogger for today, J. E. Berry! We know each other through an online Christian writers’ group, and J.E. shares my heart for mothers. She is the author of a brand new book called Set Free to Be Set Apart! You can order it on Amazon here, and you can check out her website at JEBerryspeaks.com. You can find her on social media @jeberryspeaks The issue of identity is near and dear to my heart, so I am pleased to share her thoughts about why it can be so hard for us to grapple with our true identity.
Why is identity so hard?
Who we believe ourselves to be, is the jumping point for everything we do. It determines what we do, how well we do it, and why we do it. However, if we have no grasp on who we truly are or are meant to be, no matter what we do we will lack fulfillment.
As a kid and young adult, I was so busy managing feelings and trauma that I had hardly any time to figure out who I was. I was recovering from childhood traumas as well as self-inflicted traumas. My identity was based on how I coped with life. It was so unstable. I couldn’t focus on finding who I really was because I was so busy just trying to maintain life in general. Though I had met Jesus as a child, so many things led me away from who I was in Him. Trying to name myself and live by my own rules simply kept me swerving off the path to truth.
Knowing who we are seems to be more farfetched for most of us than we would like. For the first third, half, or even most of our lives we can spend grappling with truth and lies of who we are. Growing up we tend to spend a lot of time imitating and feeling our way through life. Wondering through traditions, habits, what we have been taught, and examples set for us. It can take a life time for us to figure out exactly who we are if we are searching in our own right. The problem with the search for identity is that we usually start in the wrong places to begin with. We typically look to ourselves, and sometimes others. Both tactics are a waste of time and irrelevant when we take into consideration that our identity can only be found in the One who identified us in the first place. The Father. He created us and identified us as His own from the very beginning of it all. Without Him, we have no identity at all. We were made in His image and for His purposes. God knows who we are. We’re the ones playing catch-up.
Knowing who we are seems to be more farfetched for most of us than we would like. For the first third, half, or even most of our lives we can spend grappling with truth and lies of who we are. Growing up we tend to spend a lot of time imitating and feeling our way through life. Wondering through traditions, habits, what we have been taught, and examples set for us. It can take a life time for us to figure out exactly who we are if we are searching in our own right. The problem with the search for identity is that we usually start in the wrong places to begin with. We typically look to ourselves, and sometimes others. Both tactics are a waste of time and irrelevant when we take into consideration that our identity can only be found in the One who identified us in the first place. The Father. He created us and identified us as His own from the very beginning of it all. Without Him, we have no identity at all. We were made in His image and for His purposes. God knows who we are. We’re the ones playing catch-up.
But, why is identity so hard?
It’s hard because we are inundated by an adversary who actively wants to label us everything other than what we have been called in Christ. When we struggle with identity, there is only one culprit who has anything to gain from us not knowing who we are. Our enemy, Satan. He knows that when we are unsure of who we are and whose we are, we lack the confidence we need to be effective in the Kingdom of God and in our personal lives. He knows that once we are sure of our heirship in Christ, we are certain to take the authority that comes with our re-born birth right. Identity is hard because we have an enemy with a distain for who we are. He wants to chain us to deception. He has a permanent assignment against our life. However as much as he pushes to keep us wrapped in false identities, we have a God who is an issuer of grace, revelation, and security. He is where we start.
Just like when we are born into the world, our birth in Christ comes with an issuance of identity. Not a job title, not a talent, but a declaration of who we are. Before Christ we are identified as lost, sinners, slaves to sin. Upon relationship with Christ we are identified as heirs, children of God. Everything we consist of is a continuation from that truth. We are who God says we are. Not what people say, the enemy says, or even who we say we are if it doesn’t align with what the Father says about us. We can only be found in Him. All else is a striving for the wind.
We combat false or confused identity by way of an infusion of the Truth. An infusion and continuous meditation on the Word of God. Scripture is the sword that cuts down every lie and strong hold that seeks to separate us from our identity and purposes in Christ. In Scripture, we are equipped with everything we need for us to walk in confident identity and fully purposed. However, if we do not intentionally devour and apply God’s word to our lives, who we are will be a continuous wonder.
We have no need to wonder.
Grab a hold of the Truth. Be freed in your redemption through Christ. Walk with your shoulders back, head high, chains off, crown on.
J.E. Berry
J.E. Berry is the author of Set Free to be Set Apart Now available for purchase !
Meet J.E. Berry
J.E. Berry is author, speaker, and singer/song writer. She is a beloved wife and mother of five children. J.E. has a heart for missions, mothers, and seeing people come to know freedom and purpose through a relationship with Christ Jesus, specifically those who have yet to see their God given destiny because of lingering bondage. As an author and speaker, she explores things that hinder us from moving forward in our walk with Christ. She carries this same passion into her worship.
Lindsay L. O'Connor 
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