The other day I was listening to Fr. Mike Schmitz’s Bible in a Year podcast and he was reading the story from Exodus 3 where God talks to Moses from the burning bush. God reveals himself as “I AM WHO AM”. I was struck with awe thinking about the glorious name of God: I AM. How powerful. How intimate. How present. How inspiring-reverence. God has been there from before the beginning & He’s still here now. Wow!

Of course I also started thinking about Mark Schultz’s song “I am” and I thought of my mom’s tshirt from one of his concerts that says “I am” in bigger letters and behind the words to the chorus saying the things God is/names for God. Which led me to think about the I am shirt that Elise Joan designed for Beachbody that also says I am in bigger letters with smaller words around it. But the smaller words are affirmations from her Barre Blend program. As I’ve been working out, these affirmations (“I am grounded” “I am flexible” “I am worthy” “I am committed” etc) have been like water to my parched soul. None more than “I am worthy”.

Then I started to wonder….how could I love both these shirts? Surely they both can’t be right. I should love the one about God, shouldn’t I? Am I loving God less or doing something I shouldn’t if I like the other shirt? I started to panic. I started to question everything.

God is great and deserving of praise. God is all powerful. All throughout my life God has been there for me. He’s been my best friend. He’s been my strength. He’s been my joy. He’s been my refuge. It’s like what Nichole Nordeman sings about in her song “I am.”

If God is all those things, how could I be the things in the affirmation cards? Shouldn’t they be mutually exclusive? I thought and prayed some more. Clearly I am not those things on the affirmation cards on my own. I am those things because of Him. I am those things because of his grace. The song “Who am I” by Casting Crowns came to mind. God loves me and gives me his grace and all those other gifts not because of who I am or what I’ve done but because of Who He Is and through what He did on the cross. I am made in His Image & He died on the cross for me therefore I am worthy of love. Because He loves me and gives me his Holy Spirit I am committed and flexible and whatever else those cards say.