Recently, I was shocked when I went on my daily walk to the mailbox to get my mail.

Little did I realize, that when I opened the box the first thing staring at me was a letter

from the Kansas Department of Labor. I opened it to find out after a phone call or two

that someone had filed for unemployment using my name. I had to go through a long

process of calling credit bureaus, banks, and others to make sure the process was

stopped. I was concerned that I keep my identity and stop the thief. Who are you? What

would you tell someone if they asked you who you are? I would probably say, “I am Rita

Burkholder, and I am a teacher.” Nehemiah identified himself as the “King’s cupbearer,”

but we can see his identity went much deeper than that (Nehemiah 1:11). He was a

man of prayer and fasting. He knew his true identity was in God. Are we as Christians

today so wrapped up in the events of the day that we forget that our true identity goes

well beyond that of the earth realm and that someone is trying to steal it from us? How

are we doing with Acts 17:28 where it says, “For in Him we live, and move, and have

our being; as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring?”

We really are inclined to put our identity in God in second, third, or even last place on a

daily basis. If I would “fight” to protect my earthy identity, I should “war” for my identity

as a child of God. That is what this journey is about…getting back what the devil has

attempted to steal and rebuild a healthy identity as a “King’s Kid,” and keep that

renewed daily so that our relationship with a Holy God is healthy.