I’ve followed Rachel Joy’s journey with Sparrow Collective for a few years, so when my friend, Kristen, who also works for Sparrow, told me about their Identity Course, I had to sign up! The course is a workshop to help you discover your God-given identity, giftings and purpose, and it came at the perfect time as lately I’ve really been seeking the Lord about all of those things.
A lot that’s happened in the past 6 years (getting married, losing my mom, two kids, going from working full-time to being a stay-at-home mom and moving around quite a bit) has left me questioning, “who am I now?”. Since our family is out of the newborn phase and days and in more of a rhythm, I’m ready to focus more on me again (not in a selfish way, but it’s easy to neglect yourself when you have littles!).
The event was held at the cutest florist shop, we + you, in downtown Lewisville with the yummiest food and cutest deco. I will say it was definitely a God-thing who was in my group – from my leader, Natalie, and the women, who were a mixture of old friends and some new ones that I loved getting to know! It was encouraging to wrestle through the topic of identity with other women as they also were searching and being vulnerable in their pursuit of what God has called them to be / do.
Rachel and Lauren Chandler took turns speaking during different sessions about the aspects of identity: what God says about who we are, what the world says, how we have individually tried to find our identity in others or things – the wrestle that it is for each of us. They included personal stories of their identity journeys that were raw and very relatable, and their personal testimonies were some of the most impactful times of the weekend for me! We were also given a workbook to individually chart our life journeys (times that were mountains, valleys, deserts, rivers) and write out our talents, passions and giftings.
I’m still in the process of praying through + fine-tuning my “I exist to…” mission statement and still narrowing down + summarizing the top 3 of my Passions and Talents, but here’s what I’ve have so far…
Spiritual gifts: prophecy, faith, wisdom and discernment
+ I love being used as a catalyst to propel people toward their dreams, calling, healing and freedom.
I’ve seen God move and work through words or pictures he’s given to me for people, prayers I’ve prayed over others, and Scriptures specifically given to me for others.
+ I love counseling others. I’ve seen how God has moved through others’ wisdom and discernment combined with the Word + Holy Spirit in my own life through counseling to produce healing and freedom. It’s exciting to see break-throughs in people! I like to go deep with people, know their authentic self, comfort those suffering and give them hope, and see them become greater and freer worshippers of Christ.
+ I love proclaiming God’s love for others and his faithfulness to his promises given in his Word + testifying to how he’s been faithful to promises to me personally in my own life. I learned a lot observing my Mom’s walk with the Lord, and I really believe her legacy lives on through me and how the Lord personally speaks to me. Hearing from God is something I am passionate about, and I love seeing God’s activity and patterns among his people and drawing that out for them to see.
+ I’m a creative, dramatic and curious person. I love beauty, aesthetics, imagination and expression. (where my fellow enneagram 4’s at?!)
(missing Faith, Lindsey & Michelle for the pic)
It was a wonderful weekend of fellowship and diving deep into all things identity and kingdom-related, and I highly encourage any women believers to attend their next course offering – no matter your age, season or stage of life! You can find out more info about Sparrow Collective on their site!
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