This shirt.
I don’t know who gave it to me. It just showed up on my desk one Wednesday night, before prayer meeting. The note was simply signed, “a friend.”
Loss throws us into an identity crisis. Five months ago, part of me died with my husband. We were one, after all. No longer a wife; no longer a ministry partner; no longer a lover; no longer a best friend… so many secondary losses all at once. So many more to come. Suddenly, I found myself asking, “Who am I?” “What will become of me?” “Who will love me now?” “What am I fit to do?” Honestly, I still don’t have exact answers to those questions, but here’s what I know:
Because of the cross,
I am Known
I am Loved
I am Worthy
I am Chosen
I am Enough
and so are you.
Not because of what we bring to the table. Not because of who we are… or aren’t. But because of Who He is. Because He made us. Because He chose us. Because He loves us.
But don’t take my word for it. Here’s what The Word says:
• You are Known – 1 Corinthians 13:12
For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
• You are Loved – Jeremiah 31:3
I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have continued to extend faithful love to you.
• You are Worthy – Romans 8:32
He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
• You are Chosen – Ephesians 1:4
For he chose us in him, before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless in love before him.
• You are Enough – Ephesians 2:10
For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Secondary losses are an inevitable part of the grief journey. But my identity is secure, because it is found in my unchanging Creator. And so is yours, if you are His. Hold on to that, dear friend.
About that shirt.
As it turns out, I do know who gifted it to me. Just like the note said: a friend. Because that’s what friends do. They remind us of our value when we forget. 
3/2022