It’s easy to know what you’re supposed to say, to speak truth over yourself and others, but much more difficult to truly believe it.
From the beginning of this summer, or maybe before, God has been speaking identity over me. I knew that I was a daughter, an heir in the Kingdom, but I never really felt like it. I could call myself a daughter or a beautiful creation of God, but I couldn’t make myself believe it. There was too much baggage, too many mistakes. I am not enough.
But at training camp, all of my perception of myself and my place in the Kingdom were flipped upside down.
I’ve always loved worship. I love singing and praising. It’s here that I feel I connect most with God and really hear what He says. Most nights at camp before our sessions the worship team would come up onstage and lead us for a while. One of these nights during worship, I began to feel overwhelmed.
This wasn’t a new feeling, but not one that came around very often. My heart began to feel as though it was expanding throughout my whole body, like it couldn’t hold much more. I was flooded with love. I kept hearing “much loved daughter” and “you are enough.” Over and over God spoke these truths to me, and then I saw myself – as He sees me. Proverbs 31:25 came to mind, “She is clothed with strength and dignity,” and I felt it. I saw myself clothed in vibrant colors dancing before the Lord.
For the first time, I felt like a true daughter of the King. I stepped into my true identity. But God wasn’t done engraving this into my head.
In our final session, on the final night of camp, the guest speaker came up on stage and said, “Welcome home.” I immediately remembered a prophetic word given to me over 3 years ago: “God is giving you a home.” At that moment everything clicked. God began guiding me on this journey home years ago, and now I was being welcomed home, welcomed into this new family. I started thinking of the story of the prodigal son, and then began to see an image from the story. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him.” I saw myself as the son coming home, with God running towards me.
I finally felt the embrace of my heavenly father as a true daughter.
Our true identity is more than we can imagine. We are so loved by God. Stepping into our identity is one step closer in obedience. Doors will open that we didn’t even know were there. It’s a seriously awesome thing.
