I’ve been told that I’m too naïve. That always believing the best about people will get me into trouble. I’ve been told I’m too sensitive, too emotional, too positive.

I am sensitive, emotional, and positive. I am also wired with extra empathy receptors—I can feel all the joy, all the sorrow, all the tension in the room. Sometimes it short-circuits my system. (Hello, anxiety.)

There have been times I’ve believed all these things add up to one big, consuming weakness. I believed that life would be better if I could just feel less, care less, and be more logical, more “realistic.”

But then I learned to listen to the voice of God. And the voice of “you’re too much this and not enough that” is never His.

That voice sounds like shame. God’s voice sounds like love.
That voice belittles. God’s voice uplifts.
That voice stifles. God’s voice celebrates.
That voice condemns. God’s voice calls.

The voice of God calls me — and you — to be exactly who He created. God’s creation was never meant to fit in a mold for the approval of others; we are made to fulfill a unique calling, bestowed by the Creator, to serve and expand His kingdom.

But in order to answer God’s call on our lives, we have to know who He calls us. And to receive who God calls us, we have to reject the false names spoken over us. This is crucial. Why? Because a cup full of mud can’t hold fresh water.

The process of releasing the false to receive the true isn’t anything new. Just flip through your Bible and you’re bound to land on the story of someone battling worldly voices before stepping into God’s truth.

Take Moses. Do you think he ever heard the whispers, Traitor, Murderer, Stutterer, Deserter? The facts proved that Moses did live in cross-cultural tension, he did kill an Egyptian guard in a rage for justice, he did lack eloquence in speech, and he did run away to the desert.

But God looks beyond the facts of our lives to the identity of our souls.

Who was Moses, really? He was God’s leader, deliverer, and friend. The one the Lord Almighty spoke face-to-face with inside a tent and met with on a mountain. Moses was God’s staff holder and mouthpiece, the one through whom He parted the Red Sea and delivered the Ten Commandments. The world judged Moses. God called him.

Look at Gideon. The angel of the Lord called him mighty warrior! But Gideon called himself the weakest and the least.

Abram called himself old and his wife, Sarai, barren, but God gave them new names. Sarah was meant to be a mother and God deemed Abraham the father of many nations.

When Jesus called Peter to follow Him, Peter only saw himself as a sinful man. But Jesus knew that Peter’s true self was a fisher of men.

Are you getting the picture? The bleeding woman was viewed as a hopeless outcast; Jesus called her daughter. The man on the cross next to Jesus was labeled condemned; Jesus called him forgiven. Saul lived by the labels Pharisee, prestigious pedigree, and persecutor of Christians. But the Lord called him Paul, the one who would no longer oppress Christ but most boldly proclaim Him.

And over and over and over, on every page of Scripture, in every season of history, God untangles the lies that bind hearts and tears off the scales that blind eyes so His people can be set free, to see and receive their true identity from Him.

It’s miraculous grace every time.

And? It’s often vulnerable to not only receive our true identity but to believe it. Over and over we see people learning to walk in their calling and doing it scared. Messing up. Believing and then doubting. Running and then stumbling.

And it’s okay.

It can take time to unlearn the false and relearn the true. Sometimes I’m still tempted to push down my feelings, tamp down my heart, and just stay quiet. Sometimes I allow myself to absorb the cynicism and criticism of the world—and what we absorb eventually leaks out!

But then I remember who God has called me: His Word Warrior, Hope Wielder, Mouthpiece of Comfort.

God has put hope in my heart so I can confidently offer it to others. He’s made me sensitive so I know how to share His comfort. He’s made me insightful and outspoken so I can battle the darkness with the words He provides.

Walking in the name Jesus calls me isn’t always easy, but it is the greatest joy of my life. There is always joy in truth, joy in surrender, joy in obedience.

What voices are you listening to today? It’s time to silence the voices of shame and discouragement and turn up the volume of God’s voice of love. What God calls you is the truest thing about you. Ask Him your name.

Then receive it. Believe it. Live it.

Becky loves teaching women to hear God’s voice and walk in their true identity. If you want to know who God calls you so you can step into what He’s calling you to do, learn more about The Identity Intensive.

 

 

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