Identity Crisis

Sticky honey ran down the pudgy fingers of the youngest child while older children munched on savory lamb kabobs and the adults enjoyed freshly made dolma , the family was enjoying a not so normal day in the countryside on a picnic. This was no ordinary Kurdish picnic they were entertaining a famous celebrity from the United States.

Sun kissed orange and yellow along with royal purple adorned the women of the group and the men were dressed in their proper army gear with AK 47s in tow. Today was an amazing day because they were not in fear for their lives, the US had engaged in the war in Iraq and Saddam Hussein had been captured and killed. The women brought out the tea as the men began in earnest to talk about what had been happening due, in part to the US engagement in their part of the world, (now before you quit reading, this is not a political blog by any means, no matter your opinion of the US involvement in that part of the world the men had some incredible wisdom. )

The host of a very popular food/travel show was the one being honored that day and he asked the question. "Will it ever be the same for the Kurds again in Iraq?"[ A very oversimplified history of the Kurds is this people group dates back over 4000 years and as of the last 100 yrs they have not had a country to call their own until now, where there is a tenuous new arrangement called Iraqi Kurdistan.]So when the host, Anthony Bourdain of Travel Channel's "No Reservations" asked that question the Kurdish man's answer absolutely rang true. His quiet reply was " Now we know our rights and we understand, we know our IDENTITY so it will be very hard for anyone to invade us again."

They now understood their rights and their identity and NO ONE would take that away from them. We as followers of Christ must do the same if we are to walk in freedom and wholeness. As I have spent numerous hours whether over coffee with a woman or teaching to thousands, my hearts cry has been for women and men to know who they are. To understand and grasp who the creator of the universe says they are. How when Father God looks at you he sees His sons character reflected in you. To have stamped on your heart an identity that no one can take from you. "To know your identity so it will be very hard for anyone to invade your mind again."

Standing in the lobby at church the vivacious blond ran up to me. "I get it I get it" she declared thru tears with joy written all over her face. She quickly went on to describe what life had been like the last several months as she began to grasp what God said about her and how it was becoming a reality. She had even been able to come off of  some of the medication that doctors had prescribed for her as the only hope to a serious mental illness. She no longer was allowing the lies she had believed about herself to dominate her thought life. She was beginning to embrace her new identity and no one could invade her thought life again. she understood what it meant in 1 Corinthians 2:16“Who has known the mind of the Lord  so as to instruct him?”

But we have the mind of Christ. (emphasis mine)

Just like the Kurdish man and my friend their Identity Crisis was over , they knew whose they were so they know who they were. AS in 1Peter 2:9

⁹ But you are a chosen people, set aside to be a royal order of priests, a holy nation, God’s own; so that you may proclaim the wondrous acts of the One who called you out of inky darkness into shimmering light.

I hugged my friend and promised to continued to pray for her she walked away head held high because she knew she was counted in a family that was chosen, beloved and cherished and nothing or no one could ever take that away from her.