For nearly two decades, I viewed myself as the homeless girl. The high school dropout. The shame-filled, foul-mouthed, hostile woman who reacted out of pride and fear rather than grace and love. I knew, intellectually, that I’d been redeemed. I read countless verses proclaiming both who I was and whose I was—a cherished daughter of Christ purchased by His own blood. But those truths never seemed to stick in my deepest, most wounded places. Somewhere along my journey, I’d embraced the lie that I was what I did or had done. I allowed my sin, rather than God and His love, to define me and determine my worth. As a result, I lived perpetually defeated, a fragmented version of who Christ created me to be. I’m not alone. I’ve heard many others express the same struggle. They know, intellectually, what Scripture says about them, but they’ve allowed the voice of their past to grow louder than God’s. They want to experience the abundant, filled-to-overflowing life that comes with being set free but don’t know how to break out of their self-imposed bondage. If that’s you, you understand the pain and shame that come from living in a false identity. Here are some things that helped me step into deeper freedom. May they help you as well. Photo Credit: GettyImages/triocean