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One of the painful truths about this broken world is that it isn’t long in to life before we’re called something negative. Someone else will call us a name or a label about who they believe we are. I remember being young, around elementary school, and being called selfish repeatedly by a family member. Stubborn was also a term used to describe me. While I’m certain I also received encouraging labels, it’s the negative ones that seem to stick. I think it’s also because when they’re said, the person saying it is frustrated, angry, hurt. The look on the person’s face when they call you the name can be as memorable as what they said. Too often, those unkind descriptions, the labels we’re given, they stay with us. We can come to believe that they’re true and that that’s who we are. The label is given power and it can hurt us.

The worst statement that’s ever been said to me was from an acquaintance in college. I didn’t know her well but one evening, out of the blue, she looked at me and said, “You look like someone who is going to be beaten by her husband.” I remember staring at her speechless. It truly was out of the blue and I didn’t know how to respond. I had never been in abusive relationship. And yet here was this woman declaring this over me. Here’s what’s very interesting. A couple years later I was engaged to a man and he did in fact hurt me. I remember being slapped across the face. Another time he pinned me to a wall by the neck. The last incident resulted in him throwing me down on the street. I can’t explain why I didn’t leave after the first time it happened. I wasn’t scared of him. I just naively thought it wouldn’t happen again. Why am I sharing this? I believe, wholeheartedly, that the things people speak over us matter. 

As a mama of many, more than anything, I want my children to have a relationship with God. There are many reasons, but one of the main reasons? I want their identity to be who God says they are. I want the same for you. The labels God gives us?  

  • …loved (John 3:16)

  • …chosen (John 15:16)

  • …known (Psalm 139:13)

  • …worthy (Zephaniah 3:17)

  • …forgiven (1 John 1:9)

We live in a broken world with broken people. Unfortunately, we will be called hurtful names by others, people may speak terrible things over us, and we can come to believe that they’re true. Labels have power. And there’s also power in declaring that those things are not true. That what someone says about us is not who we are. When we do that and when we declare and believe who God says we are, there is healing. There is freedom. There is peace.

There’s an important exercise I’d love for you to try. Will you take a moment, right now, and reflect to see if there are any negative things you are believing about yourself? Grab a piece of paper and write at the top “I am…..” and then fill in what comes to mind. If anything negative comes to mind, I encourage you to break agreement with those negative statements/words. For each one you can simply say, “I break agreement that I am ____.” For each statement you break agreement with, I’d like you to cross out the word on the paper. Finally, if you feel up to it, I encourage you to pray:

“God, I want to know you. I believe what the Bible, your Word, says about me. I believe I am loved, chosen, known, worthy, forgiven. Will you help me to see myself as you see me? In Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Friends, you are loved more than you can imagine. God wants you to know how deeply loved you are. I encourage you to start the journey to receive his love and accept how he sees you as truth. May that be your identity. That you are chosen. You are known. You are loved. You are worthy. You are forgiven.

Praying blessings of hope, joy, peace and knowing how deeply loved you are.