Wonderfully Made and Deeply Known: Discover Your True Identity in Christ

“I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made …”
—Psalm 139:14

 

When was the last time you praised God for how He made you?

That might sound odd – praising God for your quirks and traits, especially when they don’t feel “Instagram perfect.” For a long time, I struggled with that myself. How could someone perfect delight in my imperfections?

I’ve carried the weight of so many silent messages:

• • I’m too fat (or too skinny).
  • Too quiet. Too intense. Too socially awkward.
  • Not rich enough. Not pretty enough.
  • Not enough.

Worse still, I let what others did – or didn’t do – reshape how I measured my worth. I got stuck in guilt over things I couldn’t change. Stuck believing others’ happiness depended on my perfection – on being what they wanted me to be.

Sometimes, I believed that if I could just be a little more like someone else, maybe then I’d be enough.

All of these are lies we come to believe about who we are – lies that say the world decides whether we’re acceptable … not God.

[If you want to confront more common lies of identity, check out
Your New Journey Session 4 “Your Identity in Christ.”]

The Ache to Belong

In a society that celebrates extroversion, confidence, and charisma, it’s been hard – especially as a quiet, inward-focused person – to believe God made me well. I used to think that if I didn’t naturally “click” with the other soccer moms or lead in a spotlight-on-me kind of way, maybe it meant I wasn’t cut out for those things.

Years back, I remember applying for a ministry role and finding out a temperament test was required. I braced myself for rejection, certain that every introverted or intuitive answer I gave pushed me further from the job.

But then I was hired.

Not in spite of who I was – but because of it. They needed someone who could work independently, who didn’t need the spotlight. Someone with the perspective I offered. They saw something valuable in how God designed me – and I began to see it, too.

 

Both Sides of the Door

Later, I watched Megan Woods’ video, The Truth, and something in me broke and healed at the same time. It shows a young girl overwhelmed by society’s expectations, weighed down by lies about who she should be. I saw myself in her. But even more than that – I saw my child.

On the other side of the door in the video is a mother, shut out – waiting and praying. Watching her daughter struggle. Wanting so badly for her to know the truth of who she is.

That image stayed with me.

As a mom, I sometimes see the beautiful uniqueness in my children that they can’t seem to find in themselves. And while their stories are theirs to tell, my heart echoes that mother’s cry:

“Oh, if you could only see how wonderfully made you are …”

 

The Journey of Self-Acceptance

In recent years – especially as an empty nester – I’ve had to rediscover who I am apart from roles like “mom.” And in that rediscovery, I’ve come to see that my differences are not liabilities.

They’re lenses.

The same things that made me feel out of place as a young girl or even among other moms …

• • My tendency to go deep
  • To ask hard questions
  • To find patterns others miss
  • A love of quiet places

Now these are the very gifts God uses in my teaching, my writing, and my relationships.

God doesn’t waste anything. Not our pain. Not our personality.

 

From Childhood Confidence to Adult Insecurity

Little kids don’t question who they are the way we do as we get older.

I remember how my son used to stride down the sidewalk with a superhero cape and Spiderman boots in his pajamas, absolutely confident. He didn’t care if it matched – he just was.

Somewhere along the way, we trade that confidence for comparison. And the very traits we once celebrated in ourselves become things we try to edit out.

I saw it as he became aware of differences in how he learned – how awkward he felt for learning so easily. How he started hiding his abilities so he could find connection. How he shed the interests that used to light him up inside.

His light began to dim as he saw himself through other people’s eyes – just like the girl in the video. And that’s the problem when we look to random people for affirmation instead of:

• • The God who made us with joy and intention
  • The God who knows our purpose
  • The God who delights in us – and who gave us those very traits to delight us too

 

Joyful Purpose

As I began to discover my true identity, that last was honestly the one that surprised me most – that God wants me to enjoy my purpose.

The Bible tells us that we’re all part of one body – unique, yet interdependent (1 Corinthians 12:12–27). Whether in church or in life, God did not design us all to have the same qualities or function. In verses 18-22 (NLT), we see:

“Our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where He wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you.’ The head can’t say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you.’ In fact, some of the parts that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary.”

All of them are necessary. God never meant for us to blend in. He meant for us to belong – not by conforming, but by surrendering to God’s plan.

 

Living Authentically

I still have to remind myself that I’m meant to live as the person God created me to be. But I’m learning to celebrate the light He placed within me – and to trust that those differences may just be a sign that I’m finally walking as He designed me to.

In a world that prizes image, authenticity is radical. Living from your God-given identity is an act of holy defiance against the pressure to conform. But know this:

You are not a mistake.

You are not too much or not enough.

You are wonderfully made.

You are deeply known.

You are loved – exactly as you are.