One thing that we should always remember and keep in mind is that we are each special and unique with gifts, talents and abilities that no one else possesses. The Lord has created each of us differently because we each have a different purpose that we are meant to fulfill and bring to pass, but many times we doubt our purpose because of the trials and challenges in our path.
What we must remind ourselves is that God is a very present help in time of trouble. We may get discouraged, we may feel like giving up, but we must have the forethought that just as God has been faithful in times past, He will be just as faithful in this present time and in our future to come.
We must always remember that God loves us and wishes for us to be successful and triumphant. We must believe this truth in our hearts and be determined to believe in ourselves as God believes in us and continue to strive forward in confidence no matter how discouraging our situation may presently be.
We must remind ourselves that the greater our purpose, the greater the enemy will fight us. The greater our destiny, the greater our obstacles will be to try to hinder us from reaching that height of victory. Nothing that is worth attaining will ever come easily and it is for this reason that we should never become discouraged while we are in the pursuit of being great.
Comedian Woody Allen says, “My one regret in life is that I am not someone else.” I heard of one man who took trying to be someone else too seriously. Newspapers reported that Dutch police arrested a man in the town of Rosendaal. They found him in possession of 186 false papers, including 29 Nigerian passports, 30 British passports, 74 Dutch work permits, 12 British driving licenses, 18 birth or death certificates, 2 British student cards, an international driving license and 20 forged checks. Once he was in custody, they still had a problem. They weren’t sure who he was.
I have no regrets that I’m not someone else. But that doesn’t mean I’ve always been clear about just who I am. I like the way A. A. Milne’s “Winnie the Poo” puts it:
“How can you get very far,
If you don’t know who you are?
How can you do what you ought,
If you don’t know what you’ve got?”
One man said, “I go to a doctor and pay him $75 an hour, and all he does is ask me the same question my father used to ask me all the time: ‘Who do you think you are, anyway?'” But that’s not a bad question, really. How can you get very far, if you don’t know who you are?
I think I spent the first 30 years of my life trying to define who I really was. I thought I’d never know what to study in school and I was sure I’d never figure out what kind of person I might be happy spending my life with. I managed to get through that phase of life and then, just when I thought I knew myself fairly well, I discovered I’d changed. And through the years I keep changing. It seems like I’ve always been up against the question, “Who am I — really?”
I appreciate Benjamin Kubelski’s story. In 1902, his father gave him a violin for his eighth birthday. It cost $50, a small fortune in those days, and especially for a recently immigrated Russian family. Benjamin did well and was playing concerts as a teenager. At age 18 he teamed up with a woman pianist as a musical team in Vaudeville.
But he suspected the violin did not satisfy his heart’s desire. Then one night, Benjamin impulsively decided to tell the audience about a funny incident that had happened during the day. He later said, “The audience laughed and the sound intoxicated me. That laughter ended my days as a musician.” And it began his life career as entertainer Jack Benny.
He found who he was and everything fit into place. How can you get very far, if you don’t know who you are?
But how do you figure out who you are? Short of taking a battery of aptitude and personality tests (which, by the way, do have their place), there are two simple and accurate ways of knowing yourself better.
First, ask someone who loves you. Ask them to describe you in as much detail as they can. Their opinion may not be conclusive, but others see us differently than we see ourselves.
Second, pay attention to what stirs your emotions. I sometimes ask people, “What do you like to do so much that you would do it for free if you could?” What makes your heart sing? How can you get very far, if you don’t know who you are? Answer these simple questions and I think you’ll know.
Be encouraged to put on confidence in the midst of discouragement. Be bold enough to say, “With God all things are possible to them that believe!” Dare to reach higher than you have ever reached before. Dare to go farther than you ever thought you could. Dare to become all that God has made you to be because when you finally reach those goals, those aspirations, those dreams, you will be proud that you stayed in the fight and didn’t give up when that’s all you wanted to do before.
Always remember that you are special and unique. There isn’t another you and there never will be. Love yourself enough to become all that God has made you to be!
I hope this message inspires and challenges your heart to be the best you that you can be and do not settle for anything less.