Who Were You Created to Be?

This picture stirs up memories for me of when I daydreamed (seemingly all day long) when I was a little girl. 

When you see this little girl, what adjectives would you use to describe her?

Sometimes (even from a very young age) our God-given strengths, gifts, and interests can be misunderstood or rejected by others, so we might try to change ourselves to become who people tell us we should be.

Do you know who you were created to be?

The world we live in has a way of telling us who we are and who we should and shouldn't be. Many of us grow up hearing, learning and eventually believing all sorts of lies about ourselves that are contrary to what God says about us.

• Maybe when you were little you were told you were stupid or you were made fun of for something you loved to do and that has stuck with you ever since.
• Maybe you felt too sensitive and wondered why everything hit your heart so deeply.
• Perhaps you have always felt like there is something wrong with you, and that follows you everywhere you go.
• Maybe you have been an anxious or angry person for as long as you can remember, so you have just accepted that as your lot in life and who you are (even if you don't like it).

The world loves to tell us who we are, but this leaves us with a big problem. The world did not create us. God did.

Many of us have spent years on this earth taking in what people, and even our own selves, tell us about who we are. We go along with the flow of what seems to be true, not questioning if it is how God truly created us to be.

Have you ever asked God who He created you to be?

• You can ask Him if you are believing any lies about yourself.
• Then stop and listen...
• Don't stop there. When the Lord shows you something you have been believing about yourself that is not true, ask Him to reveal the truth of who He made you to be. You may hear Him tell you something right away. (You also might hear Him later when you aren't thinking about it anymore!)

My life has changed since I started believing who God says I am over anything else. As my identity has slowly been shifting to who He created me to be (this is an ongoing process), I have found incredible freedom, healing, rest, and joy in my life. This is the natural outcome of living out of who I was created to be.

The same is possible for you! When your identity and view of yourself lines up with who your Creator made you to be, amazing things will happen. This will take some practice as you actively replace any lies you have believed about yourself with the truth of who He created you to be.

You were created by a God who loves you, enjoys you and delights in you. He wants you to know and embrace who He created you to be. There is incredible freedom to be found when we are able to walk in who we were created to be.

Today I am going to challenge you with something...

Look at that girl in the picture again.

• What adjectives did you use to describe what she might be like?
• Do you see yourself in there anywhere? (Maybe some of the details would be different.)
• What did you dream about when you were her age? 
• Looking back, what adjectives could be used to describe you when you were that age?
  
  

P.S. I encourage you to look at this journey of learning who God created you to be as a discovery, instead of trying really hard to change yourself. It feels completely different, and you will be surprised at how much more effective it can actually be.