Where do you turn when you find yourself in the midst of pain and disappointment?
Ann Voskamp says we need to remember what our identity is when we’re wrestling with the challenges of life.
“When things are feeling broken and the soil of my life is being cultivated and broken up, He’s going to plant seeds, He’s going to plant something that’s going to yield an abundant crop, but Satan likes to get in and start bombarding me with lies.”
The only way we can discern the lies of Satan is by understand what God says about us.
“I need to know what my real identity is; I need to know who I really am in Christ. Who I am is not how I feel, who I am is who He is. All of His righteousness, all of His justification. I am sanctified, I am complete, I am whole. He calls me friend, He calls me Beloved.”
We must remind ourselves of our true identity on a moment by moment basis. In order to do that, Ann wears her identity around her neck.
“I wear it on a necklace. Beloved is all there is to hear. All Satan does is lie. He wants to get in there and say, you busted up again, you’re not enough, you have failed, you failed again, you are a failure. He tries to rename us in the midst of brokenness.”
But will we let Him?
“No, I am who Jesus is. My identity is on the Cross, all there is to hear is Beloved. That’s my true name, that’s my core. Because of the Cross, that’s what I truly am. Satan wants to destroy our identity in Christ because then he destroys our intimacy with Christ.”
Ann says that we often fall into the trap of believing that our activity for God is equal to our intimacy with God. But it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Intimacy is embracing our identity in Christ.
Ann Voskamp is a farmer’s wife, the home-educating mama to a half-dozen exuberant kids, and author of the New York Times bestsellers , , and .
Key Scripture: John 12:24
Featured Songs: Find Me at the Feet of Jesus – Christy Nockles; If We’re Honest – Francesca Battestelli; Thy Will be Done – Hillary Scott
Ann Voskamp on a daring path into the abundant life
