10/23/2025
Shared with permission from Ashley Wielenga:
"Yesterday, I think a first happened. Someone shook all three of my kiddos' hands, looked them in the eyes, and asked them their name.
Names matter. It is how you are identified and you know what things are yours from a very young age. We label everything from crayons to lunches in the fridge at a workplace.
Identity matters.
It can change what you believe to be rightfully yours. The leftover tacos or meatloaf... I mean, there's a huge difference there! But even more so, do you believe righteousness is part of your portion? What about hate? Depression? Anxiety? Humility? Love?
What are you speaking about yourself? I am not talking about anything "woo-woo", but are you claiming things that is't part of your identity that you are now claiming is? One i hear often is: "MY anxiety..." vs "I'm FEELING anxious right now." One feels like it just is just your portion in life, versus something that may come in waves in a fallen world. This happens with kids all the time, too. "Ugh, they ARE just so disobedient or obnoxious..." vs "They have been CHOOSING disobedience today..."
The shift is subtle, but over time, we can make identities out of it if we aren't careful. We alter what we believe is our portion. We have the power to speak life or death... there is no in-between. Our words matter. We are called to take every thought captive... Is this thought actually True, or does it just feel true right now?
Call people to the Truth. Speak in a way that calls them higher because you see what God sees in them. I remember in college when we were talking about students- how they will rise to rhe bar we set for them, but so often we set the bar too low. When they see that we believe in them, they want to try to meet that reality. Sometimes we have to do that for ourselves... but it has to be based on Truth."
1 Corinthians 6:20 - ...you have been bought with a price. So therefore honor God with your body.
2 Corinthians 10:5 - We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ...
Ephesians 2:10 - For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
2 Timothy 1:7 - For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.
2 Corinthians 5:21 - For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
