MY TRUE IDENTITY

    MY TRUE IDENTITY

   While at a prayer group at Vineyard one evening; I really felt impressed God was speaking to my heart about something. I recalled when I was younger, I had been reading a book where the hero, while on a quest mistakenly wanders into a 'Forest of Forgetfulness'. Once there, the protagonist slowly forgets their mission and stays for an extended period of time until someone searches for and rescues them. When the rescuer finds him, he has to wake the hero up from the haze of forgetfulness by reminding him of who he is and what he is destined for. 

  This same basic concept of the hero/heroine either forgetting their identity or not being aware of it has been portrayed in various movies from Lord of the Rings, Labyrinth, Matrix to the movie 'What Dreams May Come’.  All these movies have that similar theme of the hero forgetting their true identity and what they are destined for. While at church on a Saturday evening; I  had almost felt as if this was where I had been for the last decade. Lost in my own personal 'Forest of Forgetfulness', not remembering that I am the son of a King on a mission of great importance. Until, I was 'not-so-gently' awoken from my slumber by my loving Savior; Who reminded me of who I was created to be AS WELL AS- who I was created for. I was reminded of my true identity by a my Lord, Who sought me out when I was in this slumber. How many years did I waste in a haze? Filling the large vacuum in my heart with things that could never leave me satisfied  How many years were wasted misinterpreting the hardships of life as either punishment from God or proof that He either didn't care or was even unaware of my plight. How much time and energy did I spend pursuing temporal things? Deriving my identity through my family, my job or my possessions while knowing in the deepest part of my heart that something was still missing; entertaining myself by living vicariously through the TV shows I watched, while all the while knowing their had to be something more. But God sought me out and woke me up from my haze. He pursued me and showed me He desires a relationship that is deeper than Sunday morning church attendance. My beckoning God desires a relationship that permeates every part of my being. As a Christ follower, I believe that we are all called to a deeper relationship with both our Creator as well as those around us. Isn't it interesting that when asked by a religious teacher what was the greatest commandment, Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind."  [This is the first and greatest commandment.] And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” That’s all God wants--a deeper relationship with us. He won’t reject us, or cast us aside. He doesn't have any ambivalence towards us but passionately wants to know us and be involved with every aspect of our lives.

“God wants the whole person and He will not rest till He gets us in entirety. No part of the man will do" - A.W. Tozer - "The Pursuit of God”

John 1:12  "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God."

Daneille Snowden [Blog Editor]: Brian and I are friends from our high school youth group and had recently reconnected on facebook. Also, I was there when he first accepted Christ in 1982 at a Keith Green concert. I have been following his Facebook posts on his journey back into intimacy with God and offered to share them on a blog. Check out my blog: http://snowdenwiththefam-daneille.blogspot.com/