You are Wonderfully, Uniquely You

Have you been striving to act like someone else and it’s wearing you down? Jesus’ yoke is easy, His burden is light. There is space for you to just be you. 

I love hanging around kids. They teach us things - how to be brutally honest, how to enjoy the little things, how to laugh constantly, and so much more. But the thing I love the most is seeing how they each have distinct, unique personalities. From early ages, they are particularly themselves. 

For instance, one of my friends has a son who is extremely responsible. He hates missing his bedtime, gets nervous if the tide starts coming up on the beach, and doesn’t want to run in ahead. Meanwhile, his little sister loves to go off on her own, draw, and generally seems unaware of danger. Same family. Totally different kids. Both wonderfully, uniquely themselves. 

I used to hate being labeled as anything. If someone said I was sweet, I wanted to be strong. If someone said I was a big personality, I wanted to be easy going. Can you relate to that? Longing to choose your own path? 

I wanted to think that I could be whoever I wanted to be. That I could change on a whim if I so desired. But the Lord has been teaching me that He actually made me a specific way - I am uniquely me. And He made you a specific way too - you are uniquely you. Our distinct personalities are a beautiful part of God’s design. 

Of course, we change and grow. We learn to manage the less desirable parts of our personalities and cultivate the good things. But who you are innately is a gift. An intentional gift. A super power that God gave you so that you can fulfill the purposes God has for you. 

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Matthew 11:28-30

When you act in your God-given design, you walk through life a little lighter. Living authentically leads to peace.

Here’s a silly example: I used to think I had to lift as much gear as the boys in order to be seen as legit. You know, carry my keyboard, set up the stage, the works. I didn’t want to ask my husband or any of the boys to do it for me. I wanted to do it all by myself. By the time the worship service came around, I was exhausted. The reality is, I am a 5 ft tall fairly lean individual. Sure, I can lift my gear if I really need to do so, but it takes my 6 ft tall, athletic husband about a quarter of the effort to do so. So now I let him do it. And then I can use that energy to actually lead people into meaningful moments of worship. 

This is one of the beautiful parts about living in community. You don’t have to be good at everything. You can say instead, “Thank you, God, that you gave me this team to work with, or people to do life with. And they are strong where I am weak.” 

God places us in church communities where we each can each play our own unique part. There is freedom when you are able to relax into who God made you to be. 

“God has placed each part in the body [aka the church] just as he wanted it to be. If all the parts [aka people] were the same, how could there be a body? As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.”

1 Corinthians 12:18-20 [aka’s added by me]

This is also one of the beautiful parts about marriage. If you’re anything like me, you may have spent some of your early marriage years wishing your husband or wife could just be a little more like you (hah!). When in reality, the differences between the two people are part of what makes a beautiful team. 

Now, one thing to note is that being married has changed me a bit, as relationships always do. For instance, Marcus makes me braver, and this is a positive change. When I’m faced with an opportunity to step out, I often ask myself, WWMD (what would Marcus do?). And I know his hand would be in the air, ready to volunteer. This is a good stretch for me. A healthy challenge. 

But there are still things that I am naturally good at, and things he is naturally good at. And for the majority of the time, we can breathe easy and work in harmony, each confidently playing our own part. 

Pause & Reflect: Who is someone in your life that stretches you to be the best version of yourself? What are some things that come naturally to you? Are you naturally bold, organized, fun, happy, deep? Do you love performing, creating in private, exercising, playing on teams? God made you this way on purpose.

We thrive in the fullness of God’s design when we live authentically. If you don’t know exactly what that looks like for you, I would encourage you to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what you enjoy doing and what you are good at. 

If you want to be a leader, for instance, but you are worried that your natural personality isn’t like the typical leaders that you see, be encouraged that God uses unexpected people all the time. And God intentionally made you the way that you are. You don’t have to be like anybody else.

A Power Thought for this Week: “I’m glad I’m me. There’s no one else I’d rather be.”