my name is defeat…

It was the annual talent show at “family camp” with our church… everyone laughing and joking as kids and teens performed silly skits at the camp fire.

We waited while her phone to connect to the speakers properly – then a familiar song started playing and I was completely unprepared for what I experienced.

As the familiar song, “Hello My Name Is…” by Matthew West played over the speaker, she signed the lyrics with a beautiful rendition of sign language. It was so powerful… the emotion behind the words was so evident and it struck me to the core.

I didn’t realize how many lies I was believing until I could see these beautiful words with my eyes. In fact, every time I hear this song now, I am struck at what I am choosing to believe.

Just the other day, this song played on the radio and I found myself in tears… relating to these words in particular:

“Hello, my name is defeat…
I know you recognize me
Just when you think you can win
I’ll drag you right back down again
‘Til you’ve lost all belief”

And as I cried through those words of the song, I was encouraged by this:

This is a LIE friends.

“Oh, these are the voices. Oh, these are the lies
And I have believed them for the very last time”

Maybe you feel like you aren’t enough. That nothing you do is enough… these are the lies I hear and tend to believe.

If I just worked more… or harder.
If I just planned better…
If I would spend more time with the kids…
Or my spouse…
Or, maybe if I just exercised more…
If I would stick to a shopping list at the grocery store…
Or, make a weekly menu.
If I could just get to the dishes…
Or, manage the kids and household differently…
If I could just do more…
Or, if I could just be more…
I am not enough.

Whether you feel labeled by regret or defeat… failure… whatever you would name yourself today – it is not truth.

The truth is…

You are a child of the One True King.

The truth is…

You have been saved.

You have been changed.

You have been set FREE.

You… me… we no longer have to define ourselves by this garbage.

We are redeemed… and we can live like it.

But – do you believe it?

I’ve been asking myself this lately…

Do I truly… in the depths of my heart… Do I believe that I am a child of the One true King and am not defined by my circumstances… by my mood… by my failures…

I am defined by the One who loves me deeply.

I am defined by the One who lavishly pours grace all over me.

I am defined by the One who died for me… and who makes me NEW.

Yet, I forget.

And when I do forget, I find myself chained by things that no longer have a hold on me.

We have a rescuer, friend! A Savior who has removed the entanglement of lies and sin.

Colossians 1:13 says…
“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son…”

Claim truth friend!

The door to yesterday is behind us.

We may have been broken – but we are made new now.
We may tend to drift back to the familiar sin that so easily entangles us… but, we do not have to stay there.

We are free.
We have a choice to get up and fight.
We can choose to live in the lies… or we can choose to close the door behind us and believe truth.

I claim truth.

And, the truth is –

It’s time to rise up as warriors and leave the broken chains behind.

Join me?