Who Am I?

This is a question that has been haunting me for the past few weeks. I think for the most part, people have no idea who they really are, and I am equally guilty in that claim. The only think that I can honestly say that I knew about myself was that my name is Gary and I like hamburgers. That was the extent of the knowledge about myself. I really had no idea what drove me, what I was passionate about about or what I actually believed. I am starting to realize that when we are faced with a struggle in life that completely messes with our mind and emotions, a situation that breaks our heart and confuses our mind, this is when we start to see who we really are and what we are made of.

I always thought of myself as a straight talker, someone who was grounded and well balanced. I could stare a conflict in the face and laugh at it. But when that conflict became a personal struggle, I had no idea what to do or how to handle myself. It's a hard thing to learn about yourself. If you really stand back and honestly evaluate who you are, I think that most of us would be caught off guard. For many of us, I don't believe we have the courage to look at ourselves and answer the question, who am I?

It's human nature to go into defense mode when we feel threatened or attacked. We go into self preservation mode and try to maintain who we think we are. Walls start to erect. Emotions start to get the upper hand. Truthfully, we should not be using our heart as a guide during immense personal struggles because our heart can become our biggest deceiver. God wants us to undergo a heart transplant, but until that is fully realized, our heart can be a tricky thing to follow. We do have hope. There is something that we can use that can and will give us clarity through our struggles. And our hope should lie in this...that we have the mind of Christ.

God never said that we had to go through a brain transplant to receive this, just simply trust in Him for the answers. This is never an easy task because sometimes we don't like what we are hearing. It's a tough battle to understand the difference of fighting with your heart and your head. Don't get me wrong, I believe that emotions play a huge part in defining who we are by allowing us to express things in a certain way, but it should not be used as a decision maker in times of great distress.

Back to the question that started this rambling...Who am I? This is an important question to ask yourself when you are faced with difficult situations. My journey has led me to this conclusion. I am a son of the living God. I can do ALL things THROUGH Christ who strengthens me. And we have an awesome resource at our disposal, that is actually encased in a thick skull. We have the mind of Christ. Time to start using it!