The last few months, I’ve found so much joy and refreshment in being forced to slow down. I’ve found so much peace in God’s timing and control. I’m trying not to waste it— to step back, look at myself, and ask— is this who I want to be moving forward, or is it time to leave behind patterns and things I’ve outgrown and give myself the permission to change again?
If my identity was in my career, it would probably be really hard to be unemployed. Getting fired would have shattered my world, and made me feel like I am behind and never going to amount to something.
If my identity was in people’s opinions of me, I would probably be depressed and feel sorry for myself. If my worth was in being esteemed by others, it would destroy me to have people talk about me behind my back and lie about me.
If I measured my value by my productivity, I would probably hate myself in this season. I would feel the need to do more, be more, achieve more, and it would consume me.
This year I’ve felt more distant from God than I have in a long time, and yet, recently, I’ve felt the comfort and closeness of Jesus in a new way. To consider what it was like for him to be lied about, misunderstood, and rejected. He knows that better than we ever will.
I’m so grateful. My identity is in one thing: God created me and knows every part of me. My worth is in one thing: I’m beloved by God and I love him. My purpose is in one thing: being chosen by God, to bear his image, and be a reflection of his love to the world. There’s nothing I could ever do or be or accomplish of more value than that. And regardless of what I do for work, or how much money I make, or who likes me, I can rest in that and slow down and just be.
To the in-between, misunderstood, unsure, unemployed, looked over, gossiped about,
To the workaholic, judgmental, insecure, slanderer, performative, people-pleaser,
The most important thing about you is that you were made by God and he loves you. Let everything else fall away.
“It’s in Christ that we find out who we are and what we are living for. Long before we first heard of Christ and got our hopes up, he had his eye on us, had designs on us for glorious living, part of the overall purpose he is working out in everything and everyone.” Ephesians 1:11-12
