By Karen Friday

What’s the difference between WHO you are to WHOSE you are? This difference can make ALL the difference in your life! Here are explanations and declarations to help you.

WHO You Are vs. WHOSE You Are

Every step closer tied my stomach in knots. On the kitchen counter laid the evidence that my biological father existed. 

Around seven-years-old at the time, my birth certificate brought a painful reminder that my real dad was missing from my young and vulnerable life. 

I had a new dad enter the picture, my step-father, who loved and cared for me. 

But my heart ached to know deep down:

Who am I? 

And more importantly, Whose am I?

Like me, have you ever struggled with questions about identity?

Sometimes we separate who we are with whose we are. But the two were always meant to be one in the same.

Confusing Identities

My father came back into my life a few years later. My last name had already changed to my step-father’s with my adoption. Then, my name changed again, back to the original family surname, when the adoption was deemed as not valid.

I lived with one dad (step), visited the other. I wasn’t sure whether or not to call both “Dad.” They were different as night and day in personality, discipline, showing affection, communication, and opinions.

It was all confusing.

When I came to know Christ as Lord and Savior at sixteen, I began a new life in Christ with a brand new father, my heavenly Father. 

God, the Father, not only wants us to rest in who we are in him, but to also find our security in whose we are, we belong to him.

21 Declarations for Your True Identity

At our very core, who we are and whose we are can never be separated. So let’s look at powerful declarations to help us keep who we are and whose we are connected.

My heavenly Father…

1. Never goes missing from my life.
2. Knows my name.
3. Is intimately acquainted with everything about me.
4. Adopted me into His family; no longer a spiritual orphan, I now belong. 
5. Loves and cares for me.
6. Calls me beloved, child, saint, blessed, and His.
7. Delights in me.
8. Fights for me.
9. Watches over me.
10. Has desires and plans for me.
11. Guides me.
12. Counsels me.
13. Shows mercy to me.
14. Disciplines me for my good and His glory.
15. Has my best interest at heart.
16. Rejoices and sings over me.
17. Extends unending grace to me.
18. Continually pursues a relationship with me.
19. Thinks about me.
20. Listens to me.
21. Heals me; emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Declare these truths about your true identity as often as necessary. Meditate on them, apply them and let them strengthen your faith. In time, they will change the way you see yourself, connecting who you are with whose you are.

Wife Step: Reflect on these aspects of who you are and whose you are. Take the next 21 days to journal about each declaration asking the Lord to help you clearly connect the two in your heart.

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