Who Is the Real "Me?"

Our identity is a valuable commodity. Experian Information Solutions (credit reporting company) reported 14.2 million credit cards were exposed in 2017 which is up 88% over 2016! In addition, 158 million social security numbers were exposed in 2017. We all probably know of someone—maybe even ourselves—that have had to go through the grief, pain, and hassle of trying to clear our name and identity after an incident of theft, home invasion, or personal information stolen through the internet. Sometimes it can take years to correct the situation and return to our own lives.

    

Maybe it’s slightly less serious—although still a hassle--for those of us who are single-again to create a new identity after divorce. We may simply want to return to our maiden name, open new bank accounts, and purchase property of some kind. But it isn’t as simple as we might imagine, especially if we were not the wage earner and all financial documents were acquired by our partner.

But it can be done. It just requires several steps, lots of patience, and quite some time to make it happen. Eventually, just like traveling to a foreign port, we arrive at our single-again destination with all our belongings in place. We survived the “trip.” Now we begin again and can enjoy the scenery!

Nothing Has Changed

Identity is established by several things. Not just our marital status, but in our own language, the family we were born into, and even our national identity. It would be extremely difficult—if at all--to change any of that. It is our personal identity and it also includes our physical attributes: hair, eyes, skin color, height, smile. This is how we were created, and it cannot be changed on a whim. You are “Me.”

Sure, we know features can be cosmetically changed like the color of our hair, for instance. But, obviously, it is temporary. Much to our distress, our original color grows back! Colored contacts? Yes, they are popular. But we usually must take them out to sleep and guess what? The eye color we were born with has not changed. Our identity has not changed. God created us one exact way—with no mistakes--and no matter what human “invention” or “operation” we may try, we are still “me” and he knows us.

Thankfully, he does know the real “Me.” Take time to read (and even memorize) the entire Psalm 139 and you’ll know exactly who loves you inside and out! He knows every single day of our lives from beginning to end even before we were born. That is so miraculous! How many hairs do we have on our head? We don’t know (and that number does change every day, every year, right?). But God knows the exact number; why does he even care? Where have all the tears we have shed gone? Can we count them? God knows because he has collected each one of them in a bottle and recorded them in his book! Oh, my, yes, it’s true! [Psalm 56:8].

Out of Bad, Comes Good

So, no matter what has happened to us, God knows it all. But be clear about this one fact: he did not cause any of our pain and sorrow. God never wanted any of those horrible days to occur to us and, in fact, he was right there beside us holding our hand because he loves us. We are here, are we not? He had plans for us then and he still has plans for us now. Out of all the “Bad,” God makes “Good” if we trust in Him.

“When you’re in over your head, I’ll be there with you. When you’re in rough waters, you will not go down. When you’re between a rock and a hard place, it won’t be a dead end—Because I am GOD, your personal God. . .that’s how much you mean to me! That’s how much I love you!” (Isaiah 43:2-4 MSG).