I always felt like the fat girl. Like King Kong amid the skyline of New York City, I imagined myself gigantic in comparison to my other high school friends. Prom only heightened the issue. As I posed for group photos, I would try to tuck myself behind the other girls. I did my best to suck in and shrink down.
In my twenties, I looked back at those group photos. Guess what? I looked just like all the other girls. I was not nine feet tall and five feet wide. This moment of revelation proved that how I saw myself was not reality. I had a false sense of self.
Questions began stirring in my soul, and I began a personal journey. What is true? How does God see me? Who am I to him? Am I beautiful? Does my life have worth? Am I accepted? Am I secure? Am I a failure? What has happened to my identity? Did it get lost or was it stolen? If so, how could what was taken from me be restored?
So that is where the journey began—the journey to rescue my identity in Christ and recover my value as a daughter of the King.
I cannot expound on all that God has transformed in my identity, but the central theme is experiencing the reality that I am a child of God.
His daughter.
His.
We might sing of it in church or think a thought in our heads. But do we know—not just with our head but with all of our heart—that we belong to the Maker of the universe and the Master-craftsman of our souls.
But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. (John 1:12)
The right.
The right!
The right to become children of God was given to us upon believing and receiving God’s forgiveness and leadership in our lives.
Has something distracted us from that right?
Maybe an emotion or an experience. Maybe a sin or a situation.
If we have asked Jesus to be our Savior and our King, no emotion or experience, sin or situation, is capable of removing that right given to us. For nothing is more powerful than his Spirit sealed within us by his shed blood.
But beyond the right to be God’s child, we receive a Father.
“And I will by your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the Lord Almighty. (2 Corinthians 6:18)
Sadly, the mention of the “F” word up there might surface pain, regret, fear, anger, or anxiety for you. And your picture of God as a good Father could be blurred by the shadow of an earthly example. I am so sorry. I pray that healing and hope, protection and provision, would be yours in the days and months to come.
But when my vision is blurry and my emotions hazy, I try to seek the light of Truth to reveal the true picture.
Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you.
I have called you by name; you are mine.
When you go through deep waters,
I will be with you.
When you go through rivers of difficulty,
you will not drown.
When you walk through the fire of oppression,
you will not be burned up;
the flames will not consume you…
because you are precious to me.
You are honored, and I love you. (Isaiah 43:1-2, 4)
For the Lord your God will personally go ahead of you. He will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (Deuteronomy 31:6)
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. (Psalm 56:8, emphasis mine)
Read these verses again. Slowly. Let each word sink into your soul and start to shed light on the type of Dad God desires to be to You.
Protecting.
Providing.
Present.
Powerful.
Passionate.
Yours.
You are his, and he is yours.
You have a Dad.
We have a Dad. Our good, loving, present Father. It is our right to be his!
Father, take the broken and rebuild it. Take the separated and renew it. Take the pilfered and replace it. Rescue our identity. Restore our value. Lead us out of the darkness of doubt into the light that you are our good, present, loving Father.
~Love, Your Daughters
