REMIND ME WHO I AM
By DeeDee Mac Marketing
Standing Firm When Life Makes You Forget
Just the other day while listening to Christian radio, I heard a simple question that stopped me in the middle of my work.
“Who am I?”
It wasn’t that I didn’t know the answer.
It was that, like many Christians, I sometimes forget it.
I mean I am a writer, a podcaster and a designer, so it isn’t too strange to often pause at the old laptop for a reality check. Above all I desire to be real in recollections and struggles as well as victory. Soon after hearing that esoteric question, I began searching the Scriptures to discover who God says I am.
“On Christ the solid Rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand.” Author: Edward Mote (1834)
That old hymn has become a call back to reality. For in fact, we can stand in our place in the pew (chairs) one Sunday in complete assurance and the next time the same words may bring tears in recent bouts of doubt.
Most of us experience sleepless nights fighting against the stress of life’s burdens -deadlines press. Relationships strain. Finances tighten. Our health changes. We replay yesterday’s failures and borrow tomorrow’s worries.
We have opened the door to the devil to whisper…
“Am I enough?”
“Have I failed?”
“Does any of this matter?”
The enemy often uses our circumstances to attack our identity.
He attacks us personally.
If he can convince us we are what we have done…
or what has been done to us…
or what others think of us…
he has already begun moving us off our foundation… the solid rock.
I have decided to offer you, and me this call which leads to encouragement,
Lord… remind me who I am.
Not who I feel like today… sadly inferior.
Not who the world says I am… “Mr. Goody Two Shoes”
Not who my failures tell me I am… an unblessed Christian.
Remind me who You say I am.
When I Forget…
Remind me…
I am loved—with no conditions attached.
“Nothing… will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
—Romans 8:38–39
Human relationships require some level of conditions.
God’s love does not.
Even when I do not remember to follow the Lord’s commands…
Even when I do what I promised myself I would not do…
His love remains.
His love is freely given, not earned.
It is received.
Remind me…
My worth doesn’t depend upon my successes—or my failures.
“You are precious and honored in my sight.”
—Isaiah 43:4
In business we get “Performance Reviews.”
Too often we allow it to determine our value.
God determined our value through the sacrifice of his son on Calvary.
You don’t work to become valuable to our earthly bosses.
You work because you work as unto the Lord.
Remind me…
I was created on purpose…
for a purpose.
“We are God’s workmanship…”
—Ephesians 2:10
Accidental doesn’t apply to a Christian’s view of his life as it applies to
Your gifts…
your experiences…
even your scars.
To our sovereign God all things can become instruments in God’s hands.
You are not simply surviving life.
You were designed to influence it.
Remind me…
I am fully known…
and still fully loved.
“Before a word is on my tongue, You know it completely.”
—Psalm 139:4
Living with the knowledge that all aspects of our lives are known by an omniscient God is freeing…
Every weakness….
every fear…
every hidden struggle…
is known by him and yet he never withdraws his love and discipline from us. Our loving Father always walks beside us,
He already knows.
He stays.
Remind me…
God delights in me.
“He will rejoice over you with singing.”
—Zephaniah 3:17
Unbelievable.
The creator of the universe stoops to delight in his children.
Not merely tolerates.
Not reluctantly accepts.
Delights.
We can burn the midnight oil seeking the acclaims of men.
Meanwhile…
our Heavenly Father is already smiling.
Remind me…
My failures are chapters…
not my identity.
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.”
—2 Corinthians 5:17
Failure is only a term applied to an event.
It should never define a person.
Peter failed.
David failed.
Thomas doubted.
God kept building a life… event after event.
Chapters in your life’s story are still being written..
Remind me…
I bear the image of God.
“God created mankind in His own image.”
—Genesis 1:27
Culture sets value on fleeting standards, titles, possessions, appearance, influence, and popularity.
Scripture tells us we are created with a purpose and equipped with gifts to serve His purposes.
That changes everything.
Our identity is given not evolved.
We discover it in our Creator.
Remind me…
I am forgiven.
Completely.
“As far as the east is from the west…”
—Psalm 103:12
We can become downcast for former mistakes, Those sins have been paid for by the sin payment Christ made on the cross at Calvary,
The cross settled the debt.
Don’t continue making payments…
…on a bill Christ has already paid.
Remind me…
I am never beyond redemption.
“Behold, I make all things new.”
—Revelation 21:5
God ‘s mind has always been focused on restoration.
On a broken marriage…
A broken dream…
Broken confidences….
More important, broken people.
Failures often become the places where God’s grace becomes most visible.
Remind me…
God is still working on me.
“Inwardly we are being renewed day by day.”
—2 Corinthians 4:16
Our thought life is not completed at salvation.…
Neither our holiness.
Little by little every day Christ is shaping us into His likeness.
Finishing touches will be sudden and completed only in glory.
Standing on the Rock
Life has a way of making us forget.
The world says…
“You are your accomplishments.”
Failure whispers…
“You are your mistakes.”
Fear says…
“You are alone.”
Shame insists…
“You are disqualified.”
Jesus quietly answers every one of them.
“No…don’t listen to the deceiver…
You belong to Me.”
When the evil winds blow…
When business deals become uncertain…
When relationship demands become difficult…
When health suffers…
When you wonder if you are able…
don’t search for a new identity.
Return to the One who gave you the first one.
Stand again upon the Rock.
And simply pray…
“Lord… remind me who I am.”
The strongest man isn’t the one who never forgets.
He’s the one who keeps returning to what God has already said about him.
He remembers that his identity isn’t built on shifting emotions or changing circumstances. It is anchored forever in Jesus Christ..
Closing Reflection
As I was finishing this article, God quietly illustrated its message for me.
I was busy writing and researching as is my daily practice, I was subliminally going over my financial situation when my cellphone rang, I usually silence the phone when I am working but not today, On the line was a former boss of mine. Our calls are friendly calls to catch up on life and events that have transpired since our last discussion. Not today.
Without going into detail, his company is in need of someone to market his company to a specific segment of his industry, a segment where I spent most of my seven-year employment with him. He asked me to consider a remote, part-time position with my former employer My perception was that because of dialysis I had little value left to offer his company.
God saw it differently.
My former employer saw it differently.
Perhaps the one who needed reminding wasn’t my former boss.
It was me.
Our successes, our failures, social media, culture, and even our own fears can become our identity. But there is only one absolute authority: the voice of our Creator and Redeemer.
When your heart begins to drift, don’t anchor yourself to your emotions. Anchor yourself to His promises.
On Christ, the Solid Rock I stand.
Everything else is shifting sand.