As of late, I’ve been on the receiving end of messages surrounding identity, and at the time, I didn’t quite understand why these particular messages were so loud to me. Until the other day, when God revealed something in me that I’ve had a difficult time articulating for years, and I believe that it’s something so many of us struggle with. Everywhere we look we’re given the opportunity to look at ourselves in a positive or negative way. An opportunity to believe what God says about us, or how the world can alter our understanding of who we are. My Instagram bio says, “I am who God says I am,” and this week, my spirit was convicted by the following question: You know who you are in Christ, but do you believe it? And to be quite honest, my initial answer was no. This interaction gave me a new perspective on being grounded in your identity in Christ. For most of my life, I experienced difficulty when it came to accepting words of affirmation, positive recognition, or acknowledgment, and I didn’t know why. I still don’t. It was as if words would go in one ear and out of the other. It was as though I knew one thing in my mind, and believed something completely different in my heart. Even growing up in church and reading my Bible, I knew about all the good things God said about His children, but it never really stuck with me – it was just there as Biblical regurgitation.

This revelation, as painful as it was, brought me to a place of surrender in my heart, and all I could do was ask God to do one thing. Help my unbelief. There’s this man in Mark 9:14-29, and he comes to Jesus asking for help regarding his son. This father asked Jesus to have compassion for him and his son and to help them, and Jesus tells him that, “all things are possible to him who believes” (v. 23). While in this moment, I felt the vulnerability as my unbelief weighed on me, and like the father, I sent out a cry for help for my lack of belief. What is it that God has said about you that you have a hard time believing? Is it that you are more than a conqueror (Rom. 8:37)? Maybe you’re lacking a sense of direction in your life, so you have difficulty believing that God has a plan for you (Jer. 29:11). What has God said concerning you, that you don’t believe? Ask God to help your unbelief. I’d be lying if I said that I heard this loud voice of God affirming the unbelief out of me, but the truth of the matter is, God’s word remains the same, therefore all that needs to change is my confidence in what I know in Christ.

There’s something I want you to know. I want you to know that even on the days your belief is lacking, God’s word will never lack in truth. God’s predestination for your life is still active (Eph. 1:11), you are still a light (Matt. 5:14), you are still fearfully and wonderfully made (Ps. 139:14), and you are still worth the price God paid through His Son (1 Cor. 6:20). And don’t be discouraged by the lack of belief either. You only need a small amount of belief in order to see what is possible with God, read Matthew 17:20. You can humbly accept recognition for the gifts and talents God has given you. You can confidently step into the rooms God has placed you in, and sit at the tables that God has prepared before you. You can be those good things people have said about you because God said it first. As Maverick City once said, “if You said it, we believe it!” Even if your belief is little, it’s still a good place to start. As you trust God to help you with your unbelief, make the choice to believe a little bit more each day, and you will begin to identify more with God’s unmovable truth about who He’s crafted you to be.