WHO AM I BY CHANTAL KLINGBEIL 2018 INTERNATIONAL

WHO AM I? BY CHANTAL KLINGBEIL 2018 INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY OF PRAYER

WHO AM I? WARM UP ACTIVITY In three minutes (jot down on a piece of paper) answer the following question as completely as possible: Who Am I?

WHO AM I? (II) Cross off the following in your description … ◦Name (Sue Brown) ◦Nationality, origin or location (from Canada, lived here all my life, originally from London) ◦Function or work (I work at a daycare center, I’m an assistant, I’m a say at home mother) ◦Jobs and relationships (I am a nuclear scientist, mother and aunt, I’m single) What is left of your identity?

WHO AM I? (III) Crucial periods of crises in our lives where we will be challenged to look again at who we are… Adolescence Mid-life crisis Retirement In between these moments of crisis we often loose ourselves in our roles We may work ourselves to a burnout in an attempt to prove our worth We may become so attached to our roles and refuse to change them for fear that we will have no value

WHO AM I? (IV) DANGERS We may loose God We may loose our most important family relations We may loose ourselves

WHO AM I? (V) Without really knowing who we are… ◦We may become frustrated and disillusioned ◦We do not become the biblical ideal of a godly senior person “Those who are planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bear fruit in old age; They shall be fresh and flourishing” (Ps 92: 13 -14)

WHO AM I? ◦ We may become strangers to our children ◦ We may live parallel lives as spouses ◦ And we may begin to ask: Who am I? What have I done (or am I doing) with my life?

WHO AM I? (VI) Biblical advice “So teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Ps 90: 12)

◦ True wisdom begins with the knowledge of who we really are ◦ We are not a role or a function, but much more —we are beings created by the master of the universe in His image

CASE STUDY I How would you have felt as… A beloved and spoilt child A slave An object of sexual desire The prime minister of the most powerful country of its time

• These are conflicting roles and identities, but Joseph lived them all • Let’s read them in Genesis 37: 2 -5, 37: 23 -28, 39: 1, &-11, 20, 41: 39 -43

CASE STUDY II How could he survive these dramatic role changes? Secret: A decision taken at the beginning of his journey to Egypt

“His soul thrilled with the high resolve to prove himself true to God—under all circumstances to act as became a subject of the King of heaven. He would serve the Lord with undivided heart; he would meet the trials of his lot with fortitude and perform every duty with fidelity” Patriarchs and Prophets, 214

CASE STUDY III Joseph grew in his commitment to God. The Joseph who was sold in Canaan was not the same who replied to the open invitation of Potiphar’s wife with “How could I do this?

“How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God? ” (Gen 39: 9) “If we were to cherish an habitual impression that God sees and hears all that we do and say and keeps a faithful record of our words and actions, and that we must meet it all, we would fear to sin” Patriarchs and Prophets, 217 We would practice the presence of God

CASE STUDY IV How can this concept help me to know who I am? • Once I have chosen to be a child of God, I belong to him, never mind the function or role that I am playing • I can personally “claim” the divine love—Jesus died for me personally • It is not something that happened a long time ago, but becomes fresh and new every day: “I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily” (1 Cor 15: 31)

CASE STUDY V In my daily life I can remember that… “There are few who realize the influence of the little things of life upon the development of character. Nothing with which we have to do is really small. The varied circumstances that we meet day by day are designed to test our faithfulness and to qualify us for greater trusts. ” Patriarchs and Prophets, 222 -23

Every morning that I look at myself in the mirror I can have the assurance that my sins of yesterday have been forgiven, because “my life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3: 3) I have value because I am a child of God

“DEAR MIRROR…” CLOSING ACTIVITY… Write a letter to yourself to hang on your mirror. Thinking of what you have learnt. Write who you really are in God’s sight. Begin with the words: “Dear mirror. I am …”