Identity Crisis
Recapturing and Reclaiming Our God-Given Identity
by
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Recently as part of our summer we went to London to visit my daughter who was doing some student teaching in the British school system. We caught up with her as she finished and spent an extra week doing the traditional tourist things like riding the Underground and visiting Buckingham Palace.
As part of the Underground system we came across the phrase “Mind the Gap” every time we were waiting on the subway. It is meant to call attention to and make people aware of the gap between the platform and the train. What a great phrase, Mind the Gap. For me, I now use it as a rallying cry to make sure I am aware of the gap between where I find myself physically, emotionally, and spiritually and where God wants me.
Now that begs the question, “where does God want me?” We will get deeper into that answer in Part 3 of the book but suffice it to say, it begins with prayer. But again, we will spend more time on that later. For now, let’s mind the gap.
It would be great if at every turn or important decision or next move there were warning signs letting us know to “mind the gap.” But that’s not how it works. The gaps usually appear after we look back on those important decisions or the moves already made. For women, it’s more of a yearning early in life to be part of something greater even if it’s not clearly defined.
Unfortunately most of us will leave those dreams behind looking instead for a more secure, even predictable path. John Eldredge captures it this way in Dare To Desire, “Most women abandon those dreams of youth for some sort of competence to secure their places in an unkind world. They need to be bright and successful. They must be hard workers who can create a brilliant marketing campaign, throw an elegant dinner, and cart the kids to soccer on time without losing the loveliness that every magazine tells them is possible to possess even during a downpour.”1 Now there’s a gap.
Don’t get me wrong. I love my life as I am sure many of you do too as a wife, a mother, and at times even a servant. But there is a gap. For some, it’s a gap between being tired and desiring more adventure in our life. For some, it’s a gap between dutiful and desire. For yet others, it’s a gap between being shallow or going deep in relationships; managing perception and being authentic.
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About the Book
In her first book, Beneath the Surface, Karie takes and translates her lesson from counseling young girls and women to what we desire—meaningful and authentic relationships without having to create and maintain a variety of masks to wear. Now in Identity Crisis, Karie helps women recapture and reclaim their God-given identity.
I think for many, our identity is broken. In an increasingly technological world, our identity gets broken more and more, or certainly, we run the risk of it doing so. We now have the ability to be a culprit and a victim of identity theft by our own hands at the same time.
Standing before God on my day of judgment, I wonder what I will really be accountable for. I was not who God designed me to be. The identity given to me was not the identity I lived my life as. Instead, I twisted it, distorted it, and mangled it beyond recognition so that I adapted into an identity I thought the world expected of me. I played God. Will that be my offense? If so, I plead guilty. I imagine there is more than enough evidence to convict me.
In Identity Crisis, we will discuss the self-created barriers to true relationship. If we live behind a mask, we can impress, but we cannot connect. That doesn’t sound right, does it? That is not the story I want to be a part of and to have as my life. It sounds lonely. Let’s take this journey together.
About the Author
Karie Eaton is a lay counselor, Bible study leader, and has started numerous women’s ministries over the years. She is the author of Beneath the Surface helping women seek how to have more authenticity in their relationship. Karie has a B.A. in Communications and Public Relations as well as a Master Degree in Human Services Counseling. She is a gifted speaker. Karie lives in Olathe, Kansas with husband Mark and their daughter Courtney and son Corey.