Where is Your Identity?

Yesterday was another birthday for me! I got up early and went on a jog. I felt my body responding, finally, after nine months of not being able to run. The thought came into my mind: I’m feeling more like “myself.” Just as quickly as that thought entered, I realized being a runner was part of how I defined ME and my identity.

I then began to reflect on the local woman in Buffalo who was struck at full speed by a police SUV months ago, and is currently a quadriplegic. I pondered the person she was and contemplated the contrast with the circumstances and physical limitations she is now enduring. In extreme cases, such as hers, when your “identity” seems to be stripped away, what is left?

“Identity” in the dictionary is defined as “the fact of being who or what the person or thing is” and “a close similarity or affinity.” If we were to describe ourselves to someone else, do we focus on our character, our hobbies, or our career? These are all undoubtedly facets of who we are. The current divisions among people in our country are real and raw. We must be CAREFUL to let our IDENTITY in CHRIST take precedence over anything else that could define us. Others desperately NEED to know me by my Christian LOVE-not for being a runner, a pianist, a teacher or for my political stance.

Joni Eareckson Tada, a Christian and minister to the disabled, is one example of hope among many others. She chose to let God redefine her. She was only a teenager when she had a diving accident that left her in a quadriplegic state. Joni admits that ungratefulness and bitterness were struggles she repeatedly faced. Nevertheless, she chose to surrender her life to Christ, and her identity was forever secured and marked by HIM. It was no longer tied to her physical abilities or inabilities; rather, God was giving Joni His heart, vision and purpose, and this has defined her ever since. Similarly, the local woman who is now in spinal rehabilitation for her accident has demonstrated already that her light is CHRIST as she reaches out and shares HIM even now. How beautiful she is, and how profound and real her faith.

It’s just about one year since I had my accident which you can read about in my post entitled, “The Gift of Immobility”. Tears welled up within me yesterday as everyone sang the traditional “Happy Birthday.” I looked around at my own four little children and family; I was overcome with gratitude knowing that God spared my life. I met someone last week who lost her sister to a car accident at 37 years old, and my own dear cousin passed away a few years ago at 37 as well. By God’s grace and plan I have made it to 38. I’ll end with a poem:

THIS IS ME (written by me, Krystal!)

I dedicate this to my identical TWIN sister AMBER on OUR birthday:

I am a young mother, but this will not last,

My identity cannot be wrapped up in the past.

For children grow up and yes, so do I,

They too will get married and begin their own lives.

Who am I?

I was once the young girl at play,

Now the mother who takes care of little ones all day.

Someday I’ll become an adoring grandmother,

meeting new little bundles with sweet memories to uncover.

Upon looking back I have concluded and seen,

Life is defined by His LOVE, not by my fleeting dreams.

And so I will live in the present, knowing here:

My identity ought always be CHRIST ever near.

Dear ones, I want to urge you to let God define and when necessary REdefine you. Life is fickle, transitory and without guarantees. May we look to God for our secure IDENTITY found in being HIS followers above all else.

2 Corinthians 5:7 Therefore if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come. The old has gone, the new is here!