That Won't All Fit on a Nametag

When we meet people, the first thing we do is tell them who we are.

But that's just a name.

What if we had to expound a bit more? What would we say?

I have believed a very specific lie about myself over the last 10, 15 years. It has been a battle, it will be a battle. But it's a battle to be fought with the truth. Though the lie is specific, I'll be a bit more general and say that I have believed that I am not "enough," I guess, to reflect well on others. But I was wrong.

The Lord brought me to Isaiah 60-62 to tell me who I am. But I'll be honest, exposing those hurts to the truth was a bit like pouring peroxide on an open cut. A year ago I was going through Beth Moore's "Breaking Free" study and when I came to a day about how the Lord thinks we are beautiful, I didn't even want to do that lesson. My family had always made me feel lovely, but I encountered 3 people in high school and college who had told me otherwise. Loudly and emphatically, each in his own way. I had listened to lying lips who had told me all that I am NOT, and so I wasn't sure I even wanted the light to meet the darkness that had been there for so long. But finally after 3 days of avoiding it and the Lord beckoning me gently to seek His truth on the matter, I sat down and read the words, over and over. I had to (and still have to) choose to no longer believe I am less than "altogether lovely." And I cried. It DID hurt to face it. But then healing began. And so even though the beauty of these truths can still be hard to receive by one who has believed otherwise for far too long, this is truth. And I need to say it outloud, daily, and over and over again.

I'm Thea Sayers Sperry Nelson, but I am so much more...

* I am a branch He has planted, the work of His hands, for the display of His splendor (Is. 60:21). That means that I was planted and established, basically put here to show off His glory.

* I am an oak of righteousness, a planting of the Lord to display His splendor (Is. 61:3). Again, for whatever reason, I am here to reflect His splendor. He has not kept me hidden in a corner or been ashamed to be seen with me, but has made ME to show who HE is.

* I am a crown of splendor in the Lord's hand--a royal diadem in the hand of my God (Is. 62:3). Once again, His splendor is displayed on me!

* He summoned me by name and said to me, "You are Mine" (Is. 43:1). He called me by name and said I am His own. He didn't reject me--He claimed me!

So when I meet someone and tell them who I am, they'll get the nutshell version: "Hi, I'm Thea." But in my heart I know that, in Him, I am so much more. A lot more than I'll ever be able to fit on a nametag.