Have you ever felt like God called you for a specific purpose, and yet it seemed to take forever to come to fruition? Did you question your calling? Or question God? Or doubt your worth? My guest on Your Hope-Filled Perspective podcast this week, Grace Fox, shares about feeling wounded when she wasn’t allowed to serve as she felt God calling her to, in her own hometown (listen here: How to Persevere Until God Brings Your Dream to Pass – Episode 331). I’ve asked her to share the five truths she learned about our identity when we feel inadequate and invisible.

5 Truths About Our Identity When We Feel Inadequate and Invisible
By Grace Fox

What’s wrong with me? I wondered more times than I care to count during a specific 11-year stint in career ministry.

Believing God was leading us to work fulltime in Christian camping, my husband had given up his civil engineering career and we’d placed our four-year-old waterfront home on the real estate market. We packed our belongings, bid our friends and beloved church family goodbye, and moved from Washington state to British Columbia, Canada to intern at the camp where we’d met 15 years prior.

We didn’t make this move lightly. It meant uprooting our three children from all things familiar, embracing a lifestyle where their dad would not be as available as he’d been in the past, and living on faith support rather than a salary.

We’d prayed about making the switch from engineering to Christian camping nearly every day for nine years. When we finally sensed God say, “Go,” we got up and went. It didn’t take long to realize the enormity of the transition and to confront the challenges I faced as a ministry wife.

My Spiral into Feeling Inadequate and Invisible

The biggest challenge involved finding my place at the camp. As my family’s schedule permitted, I plugged in wherever needed. I baked birthday cakes for campers and counselors, wiped tables, washed pots and pans, scrubbed toilets, and vacuumed the facility. I enjoyed doing these things, but in my heart, I yearned to teach God’s Word.

Opportunities to teach at camp retreats arose, but not for me. Year after year, I watched from behind-the-scenes as the director invited others to speak. When I offered my services, he brushed me off and walked away.

What’s wrong with me? I asked. Obviously, I lack the skills needed to teach. Others see a deficiency to which I’m blind. Focusing on my unfulfilled yearning left me wounded. Engaging in negative self-talk increased my pain. Down, down, down, I spiraled into a pit of feeling woefully inadequate and invisible.

Truth About Our Identity Reverses the Spiral

Perhaps you can relate, at least to some degree. Your circumstances won’t match mine, but they hurt just as much or more. Maybe you’ve entertained lies about yourself and your situation, and you’ve experienced the spiral, too.

My friend, Satan seeks to destroy us. We play into his hands when we believe the lies he sows in our thoughts. Down, down, down we go into a pit of despair. The good news is—we don’t have to stay there. Replacing those lies with the truth about our identity sets us free from its grip. So—what’s the truth?

5 Biblical Truths to Remember When You’re Feeling Inadequate and Invisible

• God loves you and has chosen you to be in His family. Your heavenly Father hand-picked you, dear one. No one forced Him to make you a part of His family. He did it willingly and with joy.
  • “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure” (Ephesians 1:4-5 NLT).
• God has uniquely gifted you. Scripture assures us that God has a unique purpose for our lives, and He has equipped us with specific skills and gifts to see that purpose fulfilled (Romans 8:6; Hebrews 13:20-21).
  • Never hide your God-given gifts because someone doesn’t appreciate them. Instead, seek to hone and develop them and offer them to God for His highest purposes. Ask Him for opportunities to use them where and when He wishes.
• God delights in you. When others mistreat or overlook us, we might convince ourselves that we’re unlovable. But God’s Word says otherwise. Here’s the truth: “For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs” (Zephaniah 3:17 NLT).
  • Your Creator and heavenly Father delights in you. He rejoices over you. Pause for a moment here and ponder these words. Let them restore the broken places in your heart.
• God sees you. Contrary to Satan’s lies, you are not invisible. Your circumstances do not go unnoticed. One of God’s Hebrew names is El Roi, meaning “the God who sees me.” He’s very much aware of your situation and your pain, and he will come to your defense when the time is right. He is on your side.
  • “In my distress I prayed to the LORD, and the LORD answered me and set me free. The LORD is for me, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?” (Psalm 118:5-6 NLT)
• God will fulfill His plans for your life. I’ve experienced this truth in amazing ways. Even though the camp director never allowed me to speak at a retreat on my own home turf, God opened doors elsewhere for me to encourage others through His Word.
  • No one can stop God from accomplishing His purposes. What He says will happen, will happen. When Satan tries to tell you that you’re inadequate and invisible, tell him where to go, and then stand on this truth the biblical hero Job declared: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2 NIV).

God is crazy in love with you. Refuse to believe the lies Satan feeds you and learn to live in the truth of your identity. Stand tall, hold your head up, and know that your heavenly Father will fulfill His purpose for your life. He’s on your side, and no one can stop Him.

What lies from the enemy have you believed? We’d love to know that and how you combat them, in the comments below.

 

When others overlook you, God never does. His Word says, “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2). His plans for your life will stand firm. Share on X Satan may whisper that you’re inadequate or invisible, but God’s truth is louder: No purpose of His can be stopped (Job 42:2). Trust His plans for your life. Share on X

 

About Grace Fox:

Grace Fox is the award-winning author of 14 books including her latest release Names of God: Living Unafraid. She’s a member of the First 5 Bible study writing team for Proverbs 31 Ministries, co-hosts the podcast “Your Daily Bible Verse,” and co-directs International Messengers Canada—a missionary sending agency with 300 staff serving in 30 countries. She and her husband live fulltime aboard a sailboat near Vancouver, British Columbia.

Connect with Grace Fox: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube

 

 

 

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