When I stopped letting the world define me

For so long, I let the world tell me who I was.
If I messed up, I was a failure.
If I sinned, I was unworthy.
If I struggled, I was broken.

I wore my behavior like a name tag. I let my past and my patterns define me.

But the truth is—my behavior does not define me. My sin does not define me. My diagnosis, my addiction, my anxiety… they are not who I am.

They may describe what I’ve walked through, but they don’t describe me.

There were seasons I begged God to take things away. I knew He could, but when He didn’t, I whispered the lie: “God can, but He won’t.”
I thought maybe He was punishing me. Maybe He was done with me.

But I’ve learned that God isn’t proving a point—He’s shaping my heart.
While the enemy keeps inviting me into situations to prove the lie I already believe about myself—
God keeps inviting me into moments to unlearn the lie and remember who I am in Him.

Satan whispers, “See? You’re still the same.”
God whispers, “You’re not who you used to be. You’re Mine.”

And every time I choose to believe that truth instead of the lie, I grow a little freer.

Friend, whatever you’ve done, whatever label you’ve worn—
it does not define you.

Only Jesus gets to do that.
And He calls you chosen, redeemed, and loved.