Everybody comes with a list.

The more you get to know someone, the more you learn about their list.

My list looks something like this:

I am a visual learner, an internal processor, INTJ personality type, a leader, a perfectionist , an activist, I always score gold on the color test, and I’m a Gryffindor. I am a coffee-drinker, a reader, a person that loves being outside, and a writer. I am an American, a Virginian, a woman, a daughter, a friend, and a sister.

Those are my titles, my descriptions, my labels. The things I am “known by”. Each word means something when you read it. When you read that I am INTJ, you think “Oh okay, she is an introvert so she doesn’t like being around big groups of people for a long time.”, and when you read that I am a sister, you think “Okay, so she has siblings.”. Each word tells you something about me. Some words hold different weight than others. The fact that I am an American stands out a little more than the fact that I am visual learner. The fact that I am a woman means a little more to some than the fact that I am a Gryffindor. (Some of you probably have no idea what a Gryffindor is. If that’s you, go read Harry Potter.) Each word describes me a little bit and tells you about the type of person I am.

However, there’s a catch. These titles can change. I could start to process things externally more often, or, God-forbid, become a little more extroverted than introverted. I could start to understand things more clearly through audible teaching. I could move out of the state of Virginia. All of these could change, and I could take on whole new descriptions. Thankfully, there is one thing about me that will never change, and that, I am confident in.

I am a child of God.

I have that identity stuck on my list for life. No matter what other things in my life shape and form me to have different traits and personality characteristics, I will forever be a daughter of the King, made in His image.

I could not be happier.

He has created me with different skills and passions, making me so different than anyone else on this earth. Yet, He made me in HIS image.

Romans 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.

He claims us and He wants us. No matter how introverted or extroverted we are, He wants us to make sure we know we are His child before we are anything else. No matter what positions we hold, what job titles we have, what school we attach onto our name when asked what college we go to, if you are a child of God, you always will be. You have this title and label for the rest of your life-wear it with pride! Be excited to be a living, walking proof that there is a Creator that is greater than all, and that has a love that surpasses all other loves.

Rejoice in this!! Find so so much joy in it. Just as you would be excited to win an Emmy, or be elected president of an organization, be EXTATIC about the fact that you get to represent Christ’s love every day.

Don’t be afraid to mess up though! If you mess up at a job, there’s the fear of being fired. If you make a wrong decision in a place of leadership, you could be asked to leave that position. If you make the wrong play on the sports field, you could be put on the bench. If you mess up at life, God will pick you right back up, forgive you, and send you right back out there to keep on living life for Him.

Live for Him, represent Him, and remember that your labels can change. Your list will have traits that come and go, but you will be a child of God forever.

I needed this reminder, and hopefully you will too.