Reflection Options  

Journal  (reflect on one or more of these questions)

• Where do you tend to compartmentalize your identity?  In other words, in what parts of your identity do you take your cue from God and in what parts do you take your cue from elsewhere?

• Growing up, what were the strongest messages you received about who you are? What part did scripture or the church play in sending you those messages?

• Analyze which ideas about your identity are based on lies, or are based on truths.  

• Young Adult: Ask 3-5 people who know you well to describe you in either 4 words or 2 sentences. Or tell a trusted friend 2 of the strongest messages you believe about your identity and ask them to speak into them (are they based on truth? Do you have a skewed understanding of them? Do they reflect you as an image bearer of God?). Discuss the answers you got with your mentor.

Quote Interaction (Interact by agreeing, disagreeing or otherwise engaging with the quote/quotes)

• It is of practical value to learn to like yourself. Since you must spend so much time with yourself you might as well get some satisfaction. --Norman Vincent Peale

• “...Like the God in whose image people are made, people are irreducible. There's always more to a person - more stories, more life, more complexities - than we know. The human person, when viewed properly, is unfathomable, incalculable, and dear. Perversion always says otherwise.” ― David Dark, The Sacredness of Questioning Everything

• You have to keep unmasking the world about you for what it is: manipulative, controlling, power-hungry, and, in the long run, destructive. The world tells you many lies about who you are, and you simply have to be realistic enough to remind yourself of this. Every time you feel hurt, offended, or rejected, you have to dare to say to yourself: ‘These feelings, strong as they may be, are not telling me the truth about myself. The truth, even though I cannot feel it right now, is that I am the chosen child of God, precious in God’s eyes, called the Beloved from all eternity, and held safe in an everlasting belief.’ --  Henri Nouwen

Reading & Reflection from the book, Shaping The Journey of Emerging Adults: 

• Read “The Development of Emerging Adults” (pp. 26-29) Mentor: What in this description can you identify with, or could you have identified with as a young adult.  Young Adult: What in this section describes where you are? What doesn’t describe you?

• Read “Shift 3: From the Great Untruth to Grace and Truth” (pp. 49-52) How much has your identity been shaped by “the great lie” identified here?  How did any of the scriptures explored in this section speak truth to your real identity in Christ?

• Read “Identifying Challenges in Identity and Purpose” (pp. 110-114). Which of the three identity areas are you most settled or secure in?  How did you get there? Which one is least secure?

• Read the story of Lee and Jim (pp. 117-119).  Have there been any ethnic or cultural messages that have complicated your own understanding of your identity in Christ? What were they?

• Read the Intentionality ideas for Identity and Purpose (pp. 120-122).  Are there any you want to discuss or pursue with the young adult or as a young adult next time you meet?

• Read “The Courage to Be” (pp. 124-125).  Where in your own identity are you so secure that you would be able to stand up against an attack (violent or otherwise)? In what aspect of your identity would you like to be that secure?