Who Am I?

I love musicals. How could I not? They combine my two primary passions: singing and dancing. (According to my mother, I learned to sing before I could talk. Not entirely a good thing as it cost me six years in speech therapy. But thank Jesus my speech is fine now.) One of my favorite musicals is "A Chorus Line." I was a teenager when my older sister introduced me to it. I used to know every word to every song and would spend hours "rehearsing" the songs and dance routines in my basement (being careful to skip some of the "dirty" words if my parents were home. I said a curse word once when I was five and my mother literally washed my mouth out with soap!). One number from the musical that particularly resonated with me then—and has been on my mind lately—is "I Hope I Get It." I would sing the end of the song over and over again, almost like a prayer:

Who am I anyway?
Am I my resume?
That is a picture of a person I don't know.

It makes perfect sense—I was a teenager wanting to know who she was. For most of us, it's during our teen years when we start trying to figure out who we are and who we are to become. Our bodies are changing, our minds are maturing, and we're asked to seriously consider the question "What do you want to be when you grow up?".  By the time I reached my twenties, I was sure I had the answer to the question of "Who am I?" all figured out. By the time I reached my mid-thirties, I realized how very clueless I was. It was then that I came to know Christ who began revealing to me who I am by revealing to me who He is. I wish I could say that I was a quick study in this regard, but it's taken several years of Jesus patiently helping me to unravel the mystery through His Word, through His prophets and ministers, through circumstances and experiences, through friends and family, even through enemies.

I am spirit. I was created in the image and likeness of God who is Spirit to live in fellowship with Him. I am not my job. I am not my possessions. I am not my education. I am not my mistakes or my successes. I am not my race or gender. I am not the image I see in the mirror.

It may not appear to me or to others that I am more than flesh and blood, but who can argue with God. (I do try sometimes, but He always wins!) Lately, He's been showing me that if I limit myself to being solely flesh and blood, then I limit what He is able to do in and through me. When I can hold fast to the truth that I am spirit seated with Him in heavenly places and that His Spirit now also dwells in me, then He is "able to do exceeding abundantly above all that I could ask or think." (Ephesians 3:20)