Walk in the Freedom of you Identity

I’ve realized over the years that long-suffering doesn’t just impact our mental health, but it clouds our identity as well. Instead of our issue being something we continuously hold out before the Lord until he decides to take it or give us the grace to endure it, we often begin to see ourselves as our issue. In other words, we dress in the tattered garments of our struggle and begin to identify ourselves as “the woman with the issue.”

These last two years have revealed “issues” that some of us refused to address in the past. The reasons not to face them head-on are vast, but once our distractions were stripped away there wasn’t much of a choice. At least that’s how I felt when I found my identity had taken on the term “fatherless.” I was the woman whose father chose not to love her well. I was the woman whose father made empty promises. I was the woman whose father refused to walk her down the aisle at her wedding. I was the woman who had a daddy-sized hole in her heart that craved her father's love, desperately.

While I was preparing for an event, the Lord had me study the woman with the issue of blood, who can be found in Mark 5:25-34, and I'm so grateful I listened. I have always respected her, but stepping into her emotional journey caused me to love her.

This beautiful woman became known in her town for an issue seen by her culture as shameful. An issue and a struggle she had no power to change, but in her faith, she sought out and encountered the one man who could change everything—Jesus. She defied cultural norms and religious rules to reach out and grasp for the hem of the garment of the Healer. Instead of rebuke, Jesus called her daughter.

What stood out to me the most in this season of my life is that God addressed her identity before he blessed her with physical healing. I believe he redefined who she was first so she could walk in the freedom of her future and the healing coming her way, and not remain stuck in the shame of her past.

Daughter. It’s sweet, specific, and all-encompassing. You are not what you’re battling, you are His daughter. Our Father in Heaven is lovingly stepping in to remind us of who we are in the midst of so many things attempting to cloak our identity.