It is immensely distressing to experience challenges to your identity at any time, but especially so as we struggle with serious illness or face the prospect of dying. Regretfully, one of the more frequent existential challenges faced is articulated as not knowing where a person’s identity starts and a disease begins. It can very easily lead to a sense of despair and a sense of meaninglessness as well as a loss of a sense of dignity. Not only that but physical pain may be excaberated as a result. Fortunately this problem can be resolved and in such a way that not only is there healing, but strengthening of one’s sense of self.
So what is the idea that can resolve this issue? It is very simply to have a sense of yourself that is not grounded in what you can do or what happens to you. Well what is the alternative, a thoughtful person might ask. A very reasonable question. You see sometimes we are unaware of beliefs that can actually help us because our culture surrounds us with alternative beliefs that seem enticing but really fail in the long run. Most of us us have been brought up and encouraged to believe that our identity rests solely in ourselves and that we are entirely free to choose the expression of that identity. What we usually choose are those identifiers that are closest to our feelings, for example, our provision, our hard work, our opinion, our emotions, our likes and dislikes on Facebook and so forth. But what happens when something like a disease attacks us within our very self? What happens when what we feel, percieve, and so forth is usuped by the illness that besets us?
The truth of the matter is that you are a child of God. That is the grounding of your identity. Nothing that happens to you can take that away, nothing at all. That’s it. Simple yet immensely precious. To fully experience the impact of this belief you do have to let go off the false ways of defining your self identity, but if you are experiencing a sense of not knowing where your disease ends and you begin you probably want to be able to do that but are just lacking a reason. So this is the reason.
You are so very loved it is not just incredible but defies proper definition. Your parents loved you, your family loves you, many many acquaintances and friends love you, and God loves you so much He came and died for you to enjoy eternal life. None of that love was earned. It was given just because you are. Can you understand that? If you can understand that then you can understand that who you are has a deeper foundation than what you have done, what your feelings are, what your experience is. You are deeper than all that. You have an identity that simply cannot be tarnished or taken away and that identity is that you are a child of God. Period. Nothing else enters into the equation. All the rest of what you think is your identity is built upon this solid rock.
Admittedly that new way of thinking takes a bit of adjustment doesn’t it? Yet I think that you can immediately see how that new way of thinking changes things. If you know and believe to the depths of your being that you are a child of God then the fact that a disease is threatening you life is not an identity issue. A disease is something you have not something you are. Do you see the difference? And I want to add that even if you can no longer do what you once could you are still and always will be a child of God. And you know what? God always takes care of His children! In the soon future every disease will go away and our glorious holy selves will shine forth.