By Colette Aikema

As the world and culture keep spinning, our nation continues to be swept by harmful conversion therapy bans. In a few weeks I will share my testimony and how God redeemed it for His glory. Recently He has been using it to fight these harmful therapy bans which are so broadly and unscientifically defined that they would criminalize the very therapy that God used to save my life. When that time comes, I hope that you will remember this blog because it lays the foundation for talking about identity.

We often forget that when God spoke our universe into existence, He also created reality in perfection. God created reality with a design, a livable intent, and a higher purpose. We forget about this fundamental too often and at our peril. I am guilty of this daily and it may be the greatest thorn in my side. I do not always clearly see reality and my identity within it.

The freedom and redemption that have come from these misfirings, however, make it all worthwhile. God has a mysterious and often uneasy plan for every single one of us, His intentional vessels. I am reminded of my Dutch roots, where I was taught that we are God’s schepping, schepsels – which means “that which has been shaped and molded”. My dear friends, this means that His fingerprints, pressures and beautifying touch are all over our being, all over our existence and our identity. His careful molding process is all over all of what makes you, you and me, me. This is how we can begin to understand what our identity is and means.

What a glorious and grounding perspective this offers for us creatures when we wander off into our own realities. Remember, that what we journey every day is our individual perception of God’s reality which is the same for everyone. Put differently, God sees reality with 20/20 vision while our vision is so poor as to leave us legally blind. Even our corrective lenses are almost completely obscured by the devastation of our lives: illness, loss, trauma, our own sin and that of others, the near-constant attacks on our identities and sexual integrity.

But instead of recognizing our vision is to blame, we fight and complain to God about what we think reality is. My prayer is that we Christians will learn to direct our hatred, blame and anger where it rightly belongs, to the reason we have damaged vision in the first place. We need to take aim at the one responsible for our ineffective and damaged vision: The Enemy, that violent coward, and by extension his minions, including the world and our own flesh.

Understanding these truths about our reality and our identity is what May is all about for us at Faith Beyond Belief. You may recall from our past publications that God has put it on our hearts to create two blogs each month discussing “Reasons to Hope.” This campaign has not only been blessed already by bolstering the Christian community in Canada, but God has also used it to transform our team. We need these reminders and encouragements as much as anyone! This month’s Reason to Hope is that God gives us a new identity in Christ. We find our identity in Him, the Supreme Authority on reality, identity, and the glorious Story in which He gives us meaningful roles to play.

Be encouraged, then, to cling not to yourself and your impression of reality – because a largely false impression is really all we’ve got. When your impaired vision causes you to question the goodness of His reality, remember that on the other side of the Enemy, your Enemy, abides your royal and unchanging King. He is the same Yesterday, Today, and Forever and there is no evil in Him. HE set all things in motion at the beginning of time not only to show His amazing power and love which remains forever, but also to intentionally bring you to life in order to focus His love on you. Why would He do that? To offer you the greatest Gift of all time: restored vision and a clear view of our ultimate identity as child of the living God.

Go then, without timidity or hesitation, to walk His Way, to speak His Truth, and to breathe in and out His Life. He is calling you. How will you answer His call on your life? How will you respond to the reason He gives you to hope, that your identity is Him?