The Orphan’s mirror

Who does God say you are?

This is a question I have asked myself and others for a few years now. Take everything you have and everyone you hang out with, strip all away then tell me who you are.

For the longest time, I would look in the mirror and not like the man looking back at me. I see all the inconsistencies, imperfections, blemishes, sins, whatever you want to call them, and I would let the struggles I was going through at the time, and let those determine who I was. I had no problem when lifting others out of this mindset, but I wouldn’t tell anybody when I was going through the same struggles.

Growing up, I had a hard time fitting in with any crowd, and being perfectly honest, I still do. If I’m talking to a large group of people, I start to second-guess everything I am saying because all eyes are on me. It really stems from when I was a kid, someone I looked up to was ignoring me, and when I finally struck up the nerve to ask why, they said: “You’re not good enough.” That really stuck with me, even all these years later. Don’t ask me for a name because I won’t tell you. I have forgiven this person and what was said to me.

The Bible says in the opening pages ‘God created human beings in His own image. In His own image He created male and female.’ Let’s go a few steps forward and read Romans 8:38. ‘I am convinced that NOTHING can EVER separate us from God’s love. Neither Death, nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow- not even the powers of Hell can separate us from God’s Love’. Let’s let those two verses sink in. First of all, God created US in HIS own image. In the beginning, YOU were on God’s mind. Before we were created, God knew us, and there is nothing we can do that will stop Him from loving us.

Now you may be asking what does all of this information have to do with the title? Well, when that person said what he did all those years to me, it made me feel like I didn’t belong anywhere. It planted the seeds of that orphan heart in me. I would look in the mirror and tell myself I DON’T deserve anything I had, I would NEVER achieve my dreams, and I would NEVER achieve anything in life. These were words that I allowed to define who I was for many years. The orphan spirit is not a spirit of God. You belong to Him.

I’ll ask the question again. Who does God say you are? My Bible says We are His and despite all our flaws and blemishes that we may be ashamed of, HE still says, “I want that one.”

-Chad Pippin

3/15/2026