By Benescke Janse van Rensburg

Earlier this week, I stood with a three-week-old baby boy in my arms. During my radio show, we visited a non-profit organization that looks after "throw-away babies". As I looked at the vulnerable child in my arms, tears welled up. How will this child feel when he is big enough to understand that his mother left him behind in a park opposite the hospital? Will he struggle with rejection? Will there be bitterness and anger in his heart? What kind of parent will he someday be for his own children?

Today is Valentine's Day. For some of us, it is a day during which we celebrate love lavishly. For others, it is a day we would much rather stay in bed, because it puts a spotlight on our own struggle with rejection, a broken heart or anger towards someone who has disappointed us.

Hurt, disappointment and rejection rob us of our confidence. It makes us doubt our self-worth and abilities. This causes us to live passively in order to prevent being hurt again. The enemy wants to keep us there - wounded as it prevents us to step out and fulfil the calling God has placed within us.

In Psalm 139:13, the Psalmist reminds us that God establishes our IDENTITY: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Also in Isaiah 49:16, God says: “See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands.” In Luke 12: 7 we read: “Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered.” And in Jeremiah 29:11, God says, “For I know the plans I have for you . . . They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

No person on this earth is ever an accident. We belong to the One who is perfect and who has made us the way we are to be instruments in His hands.

So it doesn't matter what our past is, in what circumstances we were born or raised. All that matters, is that we trust God and find our identity in Him. He is able to restore and heal us and fill us with confidence so we can become who He initially created us to be. God bless.

Father God, thank you that I belong to You. Please help me to no longer allow circumstances to leave me depressed or doubt myself, but to truly find my identity in You. I ask this in the Name of Jesus Christ. Amen.

  • Reader’s feedback on characteristics of God with the letter “I”: Inspiring, Integrity, Immanuel
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