I have a passion for sharing our stories. If you’ve hung out here long enough, you probably noticed that. (I talk a lot about it here.)

Lately, I’ve been guiding a small but mighty group of godly women in my church toward owning their hard stories. And not just owning them, but sharing them as the Lord leads to help other women walk into hard things. Ultimately, my prayer for them and for the women they minister to is that they will go to the Master Storyteller with their hard stories and say “This is how I see myself, but who do you say I am?”

Because whatever self image we’ve crafted (with the help of Satan), God sees us in His own image — because that is how He created us. This doesn’t mean He didn’t know we’d fall, that we’d make choices outside His perfect will for us. In fact, He gave us the freedom to choose.

In a previous post, I referenced a book by Philip Yancey titled Disappointment with God: Three Questions No One Asks Aloud. Those three questions are:

• Is God unfair?
• Is God silent?
• Is God hidden?

In his search for answers, Yancey settled himself in a remote cabin and spent two weeks reading through the Bible, starting with Genesis. I’m just beginning this journey with Yancey, but already I’m struck by this:

“Creation, which seems like pure freedom, involves limitation. And as Adam and Eve soon learned, rebellion, which also seems like freedom, involves limitation as well. By their choice they put distance between themselves and God. Before, they had walked and talked with God. Now when they heard his approach, they hid in the shrubbery. An awkward separation had crept in to spoil the intimacy. And every quiver of disappointment in our own relationship with God is an aftershock from their initial act of rebellion.”

I’ve heard too many women say things like “I’m not enough.” “I carry shame.” “I’m broken and hurting.” Even, “This life is not what I expected and I’m angry at God.”

I want women to know that these declarations are not the answer to the question “Who does God say I am?” Genesis shows us over and over that we are His and that He will go to great lengths to have a relationship with us. Who I am is not wrapped up in my physical, emotional, mental or spiritual nature or circumstance. It’s rooted in how much God loves us.

I am His. He sees me and knows me and still He declares that I am His. It’s who He says I am.

(Photo credit: Pixabay)

I’m still tapping out daily blog posts and linking up with Five Minute Friday. Today’s essay is in response to the one-word prompt “WHO”. Maybe you can think on that word today and find your own response to “who?” Just so you know, there’s a method to my madness. I’m warming up for another challenge during November. It’s my intention to return to the novel I’ve set aside with the goal to add another 25,000 words. I’ve accepted the challenge along with thousands of other writers in the National Novel Writing Month community — NaNoWriMo. I’ll return to weekly posts here, perhaps offering a peek into my novel. More details on my progress with NaNoWriMo will show up in my newsletter, so if you subscribe now you can join me on this journey. Just slip your email address into one of the sign-ups found here and elsewhere on the blog.