Who do you think you are? I can still hear my 5th grade teacher asking me this question. Who do you think you are?!! She was actually not asking me a question but she was challenging me. She was trying to put me in my place, a child's place, a place of inferiority.
I had just informed her that her answer to a math equation was incorrect. Of course, in Rose fashion, I informed her at the top of my voice and in front of all my peers. I was so excited to embarrass this teacher because I didn't really care for her attitude changes day in and day out. I secretly had hoped she would humbly bow in defeat but she did no such thing.
"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE ROSE??!! I know you are NOT trying to embarrass me" she yelled. "You got out in the 1st round of the spelling bee because you couldn't even spell GORILLA! So please, tell me, WHO ON EARTH DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!"
I've never forgotten her question. Until this day when anyway asks me "Who do you think you are" I instantly become defensive. I become stuck in a place of fear and insecurity. My mind goes back to my 5th grade classroom when my teacher pointed her finger in my face and asked that question. Every ounce of self esteem I thought I acquired over the years fade. I'm a little girl, embarrassed, unsure of myself, and wishing I was anyone else in the entire world except for Rose.
I've struggled with my identity for YEARS! I made up stories about my life, parents, home, friends, and failures for my entire life. I lived in a facade, totally all constructed by my imagination. Then I became entrapped in this facade and my life became a nightmare....That is, until I had my first real encounter with God. I had been living my life through the lenses of others. But God decided He was going to GET IN MY FACE. And when He got in my face HE overcrowded the mirror I had so harshly judged myself under. His presence left no room for me to see me in the mirror anymore. All I could see in the mirror was Him. I couldn't see the girl without a dad who lived in domestic violence shelters. I could no longer she the girl who was fearful, ugly with bug eyes, skinny, dark, and unattractive.
God answered the question that had plagued my life for over 25 years, "Who do you think you are?". When I tried to answer the question with anything other than who God is and had made me He would get back in my face again. I was finally able to shed 25 years of fear from just a simple question. I now had an answer.
I invite you to read Exodus Chapter 3 and find your answer to the question. It's not who you are. It's WHOSE you are that makes the difference! God bless you!