What do you see when you look in the mirror? How do you identify yourself?

We come into motherhood with different labels, beliefs about ourselves and often times, wrong identities. I believe identities are generational. We try to justify our behavior from our identities. These actions are CONforming not TRANSforming. There are plenty of people who parent by the world’s standard. What would happen if a generation would rise up and parent by God’s standard? Through love driven Gospel glasses?

How we identify ourselves is important. The baggage we carry into motherhood affects our parenting. How we see ourselves and how we see God ultimately reveals itself in how we see, interact and parent our children.

How I feel about myself projects onto my children. How I identify myself is powerful. I can affirm a thought in my mind and not actually believe it. I can say, “Yes, I am loved by God and fully accepted.” Just because I affirm it as truth, doesn’t mean I actually believe it. My actions prove my belief.

The seeds that were planted throughout my childhood caused my identity to be CONformed to the lies of the world, not TRANSformed by God. That revelation from God has been growing deeper and deeper in my heart. All those years, I could affirm with my mind what I would read God said about me, but my actions proved my belief. One of the hardest things in my life was trying to stand in front of a mirror and look at myself with approval and not cringe from self-hatred and negative identity.

From a young girl I believed I needed to be something different, something better. Being who God created wasn’t good enough. It’s hard, I’m a work in progress…aren’t we all?

Those false identities played out in my parenting. I was hypersensitive to bullying and any social interaction that could possibly have ill results on my children. I would over-manage from fear that they may experience some type of hurt, pain or rejection. These are good qualities to have as a mom, but there are extremes to everything. I needed to trust God to lead my children in those situations. I wouldn’t be able to protect and rescue them their entire lives.

We don’t just renew our minds one day and that’s it. We have to continually renew our minds DAILY and sometimes, multiple times a day in the Word of God and through prayer.

The enemy wants to challenge your identity EVERYDAY! If he can get you to believe lies about yourself, you become ineffective. You have a purpose, a God given identity and influence in the lives of your children. We can break the cycle of worldly parenting by being purposeful about the seeds we plant in the hearts of our children and by knowing our identity. We must reject anything that exalts itself against the knowledge of God.

Mercy triumphs over judgment…

Don’t allow your false identities to cast judgment in your life. When you feel yourself coming into agreement with those false ideas, submit them to the Lord. God’s love and mercy triumphs over judgment.

He delights in you…

God is not angry with you. He did not make a mistake when He made you. He delights in you. He loves you with an everlasting love. You are unique, He knew what He was getting into when He gave you the children he did.

You can trust the ONE who died for you!

❤ Jen