Who Are You?

Think about the first time you meet somebody. Whether it’s a coworker, classmate, church member or total stranger, what are the first things y’all tend to ask each other?

“What’s your name?”

“Who are you?”

“What are you doing?”

“What is your job?”

These questions are unavoidable. In fact, we have all been asked these questions so many times in our lives that we practically have the answers to these questions memorized. Our generation identifies people, and often how they feel about them, based on our answers to these questions. The really sad part of this is that we often confuse our answers when explaining ourselves to everyone and give them a false explanation of who we are. When someone asks “Who are you?” we tend to reply with our “what do you do for a living?” answer. 

2021 was a year of rapid change in my life. My titles got thrown all over the place, so what I identified with and hid behind when I was asked “who are you?” got confused, and I found myself in a hole where I didn’t know my identity any longer and had trouble deciphering who I even really was. For the last 6 months, my prayers have been a lot of “What do I do??”, “Who am I??”, “PLEASE use me!”

I went a long time without any answers. Without any guidance. Feeling lonely and useless and lost and confused about my whole identity and who I was meant to be, what I was meant to be doing, etc. 

I indulged myself in so many hobbies and activities trying to find what made me feel whole. Trying to see what made me feel like me. 

I tried reading, knitting, dancing, learning instruments, studying other languages, my journaling, YouTube, photography, watching TV shows, excessive cleaning and organizing, decorating, DIYs, you name it. I now work as a nanny and worked at elementary schools, and still didn’t feel complete as a person. And while I love and appreciate all of those things, still, none of them fulfilled my identity and who I felt I was as a person.

While I was praying one night, upset and in tears over feeling like there was no real place for me in life, I heard God say, “You. Are. Mine.” 

Woah. Duh! How could I forget about the most important person in my life and the fact that I’m His?

I am His. I am His daughter. My place in life is being His daughter, and that’s all He asks me to be. Before I was a student, before I was a nanny, before I was anything else, I was His. I still am. That is my focus now. I have always been his, before any of my accomplishments or my failures. Temporary happiness can come from distracting titles like your job, social status, education level, etc. However, your purpose and identity don’t lie in that degree, in that job or in that person. That is why your heart and soul aren’t satisfied. Whether we ever choose to acknowledge it or not, our souls long for MORE. We want to belong somewhere, be somebody, be accepted, be admired, be who we are meant to be and that all comes back to, and lies, in who we are. 

The titles you obtain in your day to day life won’t give you purpose, and they’re going to expectedly and unexpectedly change, often. However, the fact that you are His, and you belong, won’t ever change. Rest in knowing, you are His.

XX,

Tay