Week 2: Finding Her True Identity (Feb 24)

He sought out the poor and the lost
 

How do your friends, family, coworkers, or classmates see you? How does their opinion influence how you see yourself? Sometimes we find ourselves unintentionally swept up in the opinions of others, allowing their assessments to influence our view of ourselves. It’s easy to lose sight of our true identity and value.

Jesus understood what it was like to have others attempt to define him. After his baptism and temptation, he returned to his home in Galilee and began his ministry. While doing so, his very identity was questioned. Many wondered, “Isn’t this Joseph’s son?” He was clearly the local carpenter’s son, so who did he think he was teaching with such authority?

But Jesus knew without question who he really was: God’s Son. He knew his true identity and was not swayed by the crowd’s attempts to define him. He was and would forever be Emmanuel—God with us. 

• He came to rescue those who are lost in false narratives and poor in spirit.
• He came to restore humans to right relationship with the Father.
• He came to reveal true identity.
• And he continues to do so today.

We all struggle with matters of identity, but being orphaned and abandoned makes them even harder. By 8 years old, Carolyne had almost given up dreaming of a better life. Abandoned by her father and essentially orphaned at her mother’s death, she was then split up from her siblings and put under the care of an abusive alcoholic uncle. She believed she was only an unwanted burden with no real value.

Yet God continued to work. In 2010, Carolyne and her siblings were warmly welcomed into the Kipkaren Children’s Home. They entered a new community with loving families, security, and acceptance. Most importantly, they learned about Jesus!

Carolyne realized that Jesus too had been abandoned and chased away by his home community. But he also had the God-given strength to not be defined by worldly standards or understandings. Carolyne found strength in his example and began to be transformed by her true identity as a daughter of the King. (keep scrolling to read her full story)

Today Carolyne is a college graduate! She worked as a loan officer until she was furloughed because of the COVID-19 lockdown. Then, she immediately put her Business for Life training into practice and pursued agribusiness in sweet potatoes and chickens, not letting her circumstances define her. Instead, she is relying on her identity in Christ to inform her next steps.

Now she joyfully shares:

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• How have other people’s opinions about you shaped your identity?

• Who in your life speaks life and wholeness into you? What do they say about you? Can you believe that they might be right?

• Read Psalm 139:13-14: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Read each phrase as a prayer, out loud if possible, and pause. What is it saying about how God defines you?

• Are there other verses you can find that speak to your true identity as defined by God?