My True Identity!

Have you ever had your identity stolen??? Well, let me tell you...it's a strange phenomenon. To be told you are NOT who you say (or think) you are. Wait, what???? I KNOW WHO I AM!

How can i convince others of this?

Unfortunately, people take what doesn't belong to them...sometimes it's our names. Take my name and there's an opportunity to take other things. My name is so common, we weren't even fully sure what part of my identity (other than my name) was taken, so we took all precautions to be safe. With all the confusion and uncertainty, i kept thinking to myself that the Lord knows where and who I am. I'm not invisible to Him. My true identity has NOT been taken. Psalms 82:6. I am a Child of God. What great comfort. What a sweet blessing it is to come to know—to gain a testimony by the power of the Holy Ghost—that there is a God and that He has a plan with an exalted purpose for each of His children. It is also a very powerful, personal driving factor to be able to accept that we each can have a particular role to play in this plan. A concept that should be a major objective of our life here in mortality: to understand who we are in God’s plan.

"We are each individuals with singular talents, strengths, opportunities, and challenges. We are as individual as are our fingerprints or our DNA. Unfortunately we cannot discover our individuality as easily as we can identify ourselves with our fingerprints or our DNA." ~Robert C. Oaks

With this experience, i have discovered MORE about myself.

Why is this getting-to-know-yourself process so important? Because it will enable us to do more with our lives. It will allow us to come closer to realizing our full potential. It will help us build on and use our strengths, our gifts, and our talents to carry out our purpose in God’s plan. It can also help us overcome our weaknesses and avoid our vulnerabilities. 

The inconvenience of this kind of fraud can be a pain and it was, but i'm grateful we caught it early enough. When it comes to identity theft, numbers and names attached to credit cards, can be costly, but i'm grateful that my bank stood behind me and helped when i was helpless. 

During this process I realized that my eternal identity was also very important and needs to be protected, probably more so. 

"All human beings-male and female-are created in the image of God. Each is a beloved spirit son or daughter of heavenly parents, and, as such, each has a divine nature and destiny. Gender is an essential characteristic of individual premarital, mortal, and eternal identity and purpose." ~The Family, A Proclamation To The World

The father of lies, Satan will put doubts into our minds. He will strive to convince us that we don't know who we are. Very deceiving, crafty and cruel. His whole job is to make us forget who we really are: "sons and daughters of God with divine potential." He doesn't want us to remember God's plan of happiness. He'll always be miserable with no purpose, but we have the precious opportunity for eternal joy with purpose. That's what i want. Our Savior, Jesus Christ knew His mission and purpose here. As we learn about Him and pattern our lives after His, we become more like Him; therefore we have greater understanding of who we are and what our purpose is. I am grateful for this enlightenment and for greater understanding. I know God lives and I know without a doubt that He knows me and loves me. 

Here's a beautiful message by President Dieter F. Uchtdorf that i absolutely love!