Growing in Faith by Kinya

If I am to be honest, I do not handle challenges well. And I thank God for opening my eyes to this truth about myself, because I know that going forward, I can handle them better.

I say this because hard times really make me lose sight. I lose sight of who I am. I lose sight of the blessings that God has blessed me with.

I completely forget myself and begin to label myself — or rather, I start to identify with the problem. And because I take on the identity of the challenge, I often find myself drowning in hopelessness.

The effects are visible. I start to withdraw from people. I start to lose my spark and my confidence. I begin to doubt my abilities, and it even affects my performance at work.

My blog suffered too. When I started it, I was so excited — so fired up. I felt like I had so much to share, and not just anything, but things that would encourage people. But when I entered a difficult season and allowed it to define me, I felt like an empty cup. Like I had nothing good to offer that could uplift someone or even change their perspective.

That season made me believe that I had nothing of value to offer — and I believed it.

But I truly thank God for His goodness and mercy, because just when I started expressing to Him how I felt — how empty I felt — He opened my eyes to so many things I could talk about: personal growth, lessons learned, new doors, the gift of friends and family… so many things.

And suddenly, I realized how much I had allowed the hard, unpleasant and painful parts of life to define me — and even define my value.

Going forward, my prayer is that God keeps me aware of my identity, my value and the blessings I have, even in difficult moments.

And this is also my prayer for anyone reading this: that God may help you not to identify with the tough situations you encounter, but instead remind you of the value you have in Him.

And to those who have learned how to overcome this — please 🙏🏾 share in the comments: How do you keep from losing sight of who you are during hard seasons?