The Dream of You: A 5-Day YouVersion By Jo SaxtonSample

Who Are You?

Knowing who you are is not self-serving. It is essential to your well-being and your relationships with others.

The way you view yourself will define how you rest, work, and play; how you fight and make peace. It will shape the way you love. It influences how you approach your relationship with God. Your sense of identity flows into your relationships with others. For example, if you believe the lie that you’re worthless, that lie will shape and distort your outlook on life. It will influence how you treat your body and how you allow other people to treat you. 

Your understanding (or misunderstanding) of your identity will define your sense of purpose and your contribution to the world. It will tell you whether to value your talents or believe you have nothing of value to offer. What you believe about your identity will tell you whether you share your dreams and live as a woman with a vision and mission, or whether to hide your dreams away believing they are pointless. It’s impossible for anyone to live beyond what we believe to be true about ourselves. 

When you are uncertain about who you are, you will believe—wrongly—that your value has to be earned. You will try to prove your worth through achievement. You will feel burdened instead of having a lasting peace and contentment that grounds your life. You will rely on the recognition and applause of others to center you and provide affirmation. 

And what does all this do to you? You will exhaust yourself mentally, physically, and emotionally trying to earn the approval of people or institutions. Then you’ll take yourself beyond exhaustion as you try to hold on to the approval you feel you have earned. You’ll be trying so hard to keep it all together that you’ll have no energy left to find your way back to who you truly are. You will have lost sight of the fullness of your true identity. You’ll no longer see or believe the reality of your God-given potential and purpose. 

Coming to a deeper understanding of your identity in God, your gifts and passions, and your unique calling frees you to serve others in a way you never could if you remained unaware of who you are.

Why do our beliefs about ourselves influence the choices we make in life?