My hope is in His name

Today I'm finishing up another bible study with the She Reads Truth community. We've been unpacking the beautiful story of Ruth......Have you read it? studied it? soaked it all in? It's a good one. There are so many nuggets of truth that God reveals in this love story.....blessing in the midst of pain, obedience in the midst of uncertainty, relationships with eternal consequence and an amazing picture of our great redeemer....Jesus! Today's assignment goes back to the beginning, where we find Naomi overcome with the sorrow of loss and feeling as if the Lord has dealt her an overwhelming hand {I can empathize}. Her identity in the Lord is buried by her burden and she renames herself......bitter.  

I hate to utter some of the words that I've let identify me throughout my life.....ugly, stupid, broken, unlovable, empty. I cringe as I type each letter {yuck}. Just like Naomi, I've let my circumstances decide who I am instead of remembering where my identify comes from. In addition to the ease at which I can abuse myself, there is Satan.....and he knows where we are most vulnerable. As we are released from the shackles of one set of false identity, he slithers in to replace it with something else. These names bind us, sit on the thrown of our hearts and take control of all aspects of our life. It's exhausting and sucks the life out of ya {and Satan cheers}.......because these words are lies, lies, LIES!!! {there are not enough exclamation points}. In Isaiah 49, the Lord tells us that "....I have engraved you on the palms of my hands"......the same hands that he allowed to be pierced to give us our true identity. In Him we are forgiven, beloved, redeemed.......known. There are still times that I struggle with owning those names, but if I fix my eyes upon Jesus {Hebrews 12:2}.....if my days are more about Him and less about me.......
my hope is no longer in my name but His.

He brought me to a safer place
Equipped my hands and feet with strength
So I advance with confidence in Christ
His precious truth delivers me
From lies that wage war in me
Your victory is mine for all my days
I will not be afraid
For my hope is in HIS name

{excerpt from Defender - Kings Kaleidoscope}