Learning About Who She Is

There have been a few moments in my life that the Lord has allowed me the privilege of being able to watch Him work in the life of another right before my eyes. One was while I was in my second year of doing college ministry. Another was right before I left my job in PA. And even though I know about, have read about, and even preached about the power of God, it never ceases to amaze me. And when God showed up in mighty way on Wednesday morning, I responded with the same stupor.

Three times a week for three hours on those mornings, we meet as a group for a time of discipleship. This week we’ve started a three-week look at a book called “Who I Am in Christ.” The author, Neil Anderson, brings his readers through a powerful journey of 36 parts of their identity that they have in Christ. Since I started in full-time ministry eight years ago (wow, has it been that long??), I’ve realized that so many of us have either forgotten who we really are, or have been told lies about it.

The girl with whom the Lord chose to work this particular morning was actually a victim of both. The conversation started easily enough, discussing the assigned chapters. Then this girl began to open up about fears she’s had and guilt that she’s been carrying around for so long. A cruel word here and a feeling of not being good enough there had led to a works-focused faith that had been enslaving her and robbed her of her joy. It had left her scared and paralyzed too much to even hope for freedom.

I think it’s those times in our lives when we tell the Lord what He can and can’t do that He really loves to show Himself, as if to answer the challenge for His glory and because that’s when we are least expecting it. No sooner had those words of self-condemnation left her lips than the Spirit began to really move. He used the group to begin to gently press her to choose freedom, to choose the way that the Lord wanted, and to choose to allow the Lord into her life to loosen those shackles.

For anyone that’s ever chosen that way, you know how difficult of a decision it can be, cuz that’s the tough one. That’s the way that forces you out of your comfort zone and into the arms of a God who you’re not really sure loves you enough to pick you up this time. If you jump, will He catch you? When you reveal your true self, will He flee out of repulsion?

She chose to jump, and she chose to reveal. She chose to go back to some incredibly painful times, where hurt had either been inflicted on her or where she was the one doing the inflicting. As Christina was asking her to describe what Jesus was doing, what he was saying, or where he was as she pictured those times that she’d tried to forget, her answers about a forgiving and loving Savior brought tears to my eyes. She pictured herself giving Christ the bricks that stood in the way of her and freedom, and no longer allowing the lies to dictate how she would live.

This was a huge victory for the Kingdom, and the Lord was showing Himself, as He always does, to be faithful to His promises of unconditional love and grace. I wanted to jump up and down I was so excited, but for many others, there was a feeling of sacredness in the air, as many of them were witnessing this kind of transformation for the first time. They were awestruck, much in the same way that Isaiah was that forced him to cry out “Holy, Holy, Holy Lord!!”

This girl will never be the same, and I don’t think the group will, either. Praise God for His redemption and power, and I am so thankful that He allowed me to be a witness to it this week.