This is a question that I have been trying to answer and define for…well…probably my whole life. Some definitions that I have come up with over the years include:
- a daughter/sister/friend
- an athlete
- not yet emotionally developed
- a leader
- a follower
- a people person
- unique
- a Christian
But I’ve slowly realized that none of these truly define ME.
I’ve been reading Victory Over the Darkness by: Neil Anderson this month. This book puts tangible evidence and definition to who we really are. Anderson starts out in chapter one asking the question, “Who are you?’ I would answer, “I’m Lindsay Short.”
“No, that’s your name. Who are you?”
“Oh, I’m a missionary on The World Race.”
“No, that’s what you do.”
“Umm…I’m an American.”
“That’s where you live.”
“OK…I’m a Christian.”
“That’s your religion.”
Another book that I have been reading this month is the book of Ecclesiastes. As we all know, Solomon’s favorite word in that book is “meaningless”. During the former half of the book, I was very discouraged. Everything that I have sought to achieve and define myself as is meaningless? Well, I guess I can agree. I mean…I haven’t yet found complete identity in my previous findings. But is life really meaningless?
Then I found closure in the final verse of the book, “Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.”
For the past couple of months leading up to Mozambique, I have had words spoken over me through teammates and squadmates, most of which included something about my identity. Someone told me that God was going to show me what true love really looked like; then, that I was going to find my identity in Africa; and also that I’m learning some of the same lessons over again, but that God is delighted in that because that means I’m one more step closer to understanding.
So what is my identity? Who is Lindsay Short? To redefine my previous list, here is a new list of self-characterization:
- I am a daughter of the King!
- I am complete in Christ!
- I am never separated from the love of God!
- I am free forever from condemnation!
- I am rescued from the domain of Satan’s rule and transferred to the Kingdom of Christ!
- I am made alive in Christ because He has redeemed and forgiven all of my sins!
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creations;
the old has gone, the new has come!
– II Corinthians 5:17
