It’s hard for us not to receive our identity from what happened to us.

Maybe there is abuse in our past. Or someone lied about us. Or perhaps instead of throwing rocks at us, and beating us with sticks, someone struck us down with words and battered up places in us that can’t be seen.

Whatever it was, we went through trauma and now our brain has trouble processing life in healthful ways.

But, we are not what happened to us. This is not to lessen what did happen. That part is very important and we must do something with it. But, that thing does not name us.

The thing about Jesus, is that He comes along, takes us by the hand and says, “Come on. I see that you are stuck here in this place but I came to pull you out of that dark hole of lies and bring you out into the light. I came to speak into you, who you really are, until there is a definitive shift in your beliefs.”

This is what Jesus does in the life of a believer.

He knows who we are because He was there when we were conceived in God’s mind. He was there when we were being knit together in our mother’s womb.

Following Jesus does not mean we lose our personality. If you are part of a club or a congregation that tries to obliterate your personality, you need to leave. That is not a healthy community.

When you follow Christ, and are filled with Him, your truest self shines and you become more “you.” Your personality is given its fullest expression.

Jesus will see you trying to go back into those false identities–the things that others have called you, or the names you called yourself when you were wounded and He will say, “No. That is not who you are. Come on. Let’s move forward. You were shipwrecked but you are not a castaway. What happened to you is not who you are.

See those waves? You do not belong beneath them. You belong above them. Take My hand and keep your head up. We are going to do some wave walking. We are going to overcome.”