" Much like being adopted into God's family, we have our past, our history before we became a child of God. We call that our testimony. "

If I asked you to write your name with a colon, followed by a short description of who you are, what would you say?    

For example, I may put Hope Klopfenstein: Christian.

Or Hope Klopfenstein: Little sister.    

Maybe even Hope Klopfenstein: Social worker.   

What we fill in that blank with says a lot about how we see ourselves. It’s our identity.   

Identity formation starts as young as 15 months old, which is usually when toddlers start to recognize themselves in mirrors and photos. Countless adoptees, both intercountry and domestic, closed and open, have shared their experience with identity confusion. It can start very young with noticing that neither of her parents have the same skin tone as her, or that he is the only family member who hates sports. Identity formation is important for everyone, but adoptee’s need extra help because they often do not have the tools that a biologically born siblings are automatically given, such as access to genealogy, their cultural heritage, or relationship with birth family.

It is a significant and common struggle for adoptee’s to endure challenges with reconciling their origins, the brokenness that contributed to it, and who they are in relation to their adoptive family. They often carry two worlds within them: the one they came from and the one they live in now.

Even if you are not adopted, you may relate to that.

Much like being adopted into God's family, we have our past, our history before we became a child of God. We call that our testimony. But we also have our origins, why we were created and who God says we are. If we lose sight of those parts of ourselves; what we came from and who we are now, then we can feel disconnected from God and lose direction. We start to define ourselves by what we do, what others think, or what has happened to us, instead of by who God says we are.

“For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.” 

Eph 1:4-6

When we are grounded in God’s Word and secure in His love, the questions about where we fit or what our place is begin to settle. We find peace in the truth that our story, every broken and beautiful part, is safely held in the hands of a loving Father.