Who Am I When Everything Has Been Stripped Away?

Loss has a way of making us question everything.

Perhaps you've lost a loved one, a career, a relationship, or a season of life that once defined you. In the midst of grief and change, it is easy to begin asking, Who am I now?

When something significant is taken from us, we often discover how much of our identity was tied to what we did, who we loved, or what others expected of us.

I understand that struggle.

I am known as a wife, a mother, a mother-in-law, a granny, a daughter, a sister, an aunty, a niece, a cousin, and a friend. I am also a Life Coach, a Guest Speaker, and an Author. I have also been known as the woman who suffered from Chronic Fatigue and the woman who was miraculously healed.

But who I am is not found in my relationships. Who I am is not what I do. And who I am is not determined by what has happened to me. So where does that leave me?

Who are we when everything has been stripped away?

Let me tell you who you are not:

You are not your profession.

You are not your diagnosis.

You are not your successes.

You are not your failures.

You are not the pain you've experienced, or the labels that have been placed upon you.

Now, here’s the truth I want to speak over you:

You are a child of God.

You are a child of the King.

You are royalty.

You are loved,

You are chosen.

You are called.

You are forgiven,

You are valued,

You are cherished,

You are treasured.

You are the beloved of your Heavenly Father.

Nothing you have lost can take that identity away.

People may leave. Seasons may change. Roles may shift. Circumstances may rise and fall. But God's love for you remains constant, and your identity in Him is secure.

It is only human to stumble a little when our world dramatically changes, but when our identity is anchored in Christ, we discover a freedom that no circumstance can steal.

Freedom from striving.

Freedom from shame.

Freedom from the need to prove ourselves.

Freedom from being defined by our past.

Perhaps today is the day to stop living as a victim of what has happened to you.

Perhaps today is the day to release the labels you have carried for far too long.

Perhaps today is the day to embrace the truth that you are God's beloved child.

You do not have to spend the rest of your life being defined by loss.

You can choose to live from a place of security, knowing whose you are and what that truly means.

Because when everything else is stripped away, what remains is the one thing that can never be taken from you:

You belong to God.

And that changes everything.