"I'm just 'the Alzheimer's patient' or 'the hospice lady'—my disease is my identity now."
How it sounds in your head: When people look at me, all they see is sickness. I used to be a daughter, wife, mother, grandmother—now I'm just a diagnosis in a bed. Even I introduce myself by my condition. The disease swallowed who I really am.
"But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine.'"
-- Isaiah 43:1Enemy strategy to erase identity given by God before foundation of world, making temporary condition appear permanent.
Medical charts, caregiver conversations, even her own thoughts revolve around symptoms and diagnoses. Every identity she carried for 90 years seems eclipsed by what's failing in her body right now.
For 12 years she was called 'the bleeding woman'—unclean, untouchable, her entire identity swallowed by her condition. One touch of Jesus and He called her 'DAUGHTER'—her true name, her real identity, instantly restored along with her body.
I REFUSE the lie that my disease defines me. IT IS WRITTEN that God has called me by MY NAME, and I am HIS. I am not 'the sick one' or 'the dying one'—I am DAUGHTER OF THE MOST HIGH GOD, righteous by the blood of Jesus, blessed with the blessing of Abraham that no disease can revoke. My body may be weak, but my identity is HIDDEN WITH CHRIST IN GOD. IT IS WRITTEN that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, and no diagnosis can change the name God gave me before the foundation of the world. I declare: BELOVED is my name, and this disease is an evicted trespasser.
The Father doesn't see a hospital bed with a diagnosis—He sees His daughter, the one He's been running toward since before time began, the one whose name is engraved on His hands. Every label the world puts on you is burned up in the fire of His affection; you are who HE says you are, and He's never called you by your disease.