By When a relationship fails, an opportunity disappears, a symptom won’t relent or a struggle refuses to lift, a quiet but cruel thought sneaks in: “Maybe this is just who I am now.”
The apostle Paul knew this feeling well.
His days rarely looked like what someone “chosen by God” might imagine.
Prison cells were his writing desks. Shipwrecks, hunger, beatings and betrayals weren’t rare interruptions; they were his norm. He lived with a persistent weakness he begged God to remove.
We know these stories because Paul wasn’t afraid that sharing them would somehow discredit him.
Still, look at his letters. Before he ever detailed a single problem, he opened with something like: “This letter is from Paul, chosen by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus.”
Notice the order: chosen first, called first, identity first. Only then came any struggles.
Like I said, Paul didn’t deny the hard things; he spoke of them honestly. But he understood something important: What you’ve been through can explain you, but it can’t define you.
Life will try, though. Circumstances will try. People will try. Your own thoughts will definitely try.
Just know that struggles are chapters, not titles. And challenges are events, not identities.
You don’t have to hide your pain or pretend it didn’t happen. Talk about it. Acknowledge it. There’s healing in the revealing (see James 5:16).
But you don’t have to start with it. And you certainly don’t have to end with it. You are who God says you are: chosen, called, loved.
That’s the only definition that holds.
P.S. This truth is what I explore more deeply in my Strong in the Struggle series. If you’re walking through something that’s trying to rename you, these messages will help you hold onto the identity God already gave you. And stand steady, even when life isn’t. Get all 5 messages today for your donation of any amount.