“If You Can Lose It, It’s Not Who You Are”

These are the words that stuck with Cindy and I as we left the Experience Conference we attended September 5-8, 2017.  The conference is for worship leaders who come from all over to worship together and learn together.  It’s held at Disney’s Contemporary Resort in Orlando, Florida – which makes it a lot of fun, too!

The week was filled with excellent music and times of worship. It’s amazing to hear over a thousand worship leaders and musicians lifting their voices in song to praise Jesus!  There were five times of specialized workshops in which I got to learn more about things like keeping the voice healthy, how to better lead choirs, and how to minister better to the congregation. Each general session included a time of teaching from a pastor or speaker.  The week started with a theme of our identity in Christ.  As Christians, we are each a beloved child of God, “the one whom Jesus loves.”

So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.       (1 John 4:16)

During the middle of the week, the theme turned to our relationship with God and each other.  For these relationships to flourish, we must have unity and intimacy.

So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind.  (Philippians 2:1-2)

Then the week culminated with going back to our identity – who we are and Whose we are.  Michele Cushatt was the inspiring speaker who closed out the conference.  For years she was a singer and a speaker that traveled with Women of Faith and other well known organizations and events.  But then she was diagnosed with cancer – cancer of the tongue.  After many surgeries – removing large portions of her tongue and rebuilding it again, much pain, and a long recovery, she was at a place of wondering how God could use her now.  Well, I’m here to testify that God is using her in a mighty way!
Through Scripture and testimony, she posed the idea that “if you can lose it, it’s not who you are.”  As a follower of Jesus, God provides all we need, and He adopts us as His sons and daughters. So in this life, there is so much we can lose – money, job, a spouse, family, relationships, health, hair, and on and on. But in the end, who we are in Christ is all that matters – “the one whom Jesus loves.”

So be encouraged, friend, your worth is not wrapped up in your talent, your income, or your social status.  Jesus loves you.

Jeremy Hansard