“I’m gonna make art and babies

  “I’m gonna make art and babies.” This is the phrase I committed to as the plan for my life. 

As an idealistic, twenty-one-year-old fine art student in love with life and her long-time boyfriend, my main objectives were simple.  I repeated them in jest, AND in full seriousness, to anyone who inquired as to what my plans were after university.

That plan became only slightly skewed when my small world grew much bigger and I needed to work as a receptionist and then as an accountant, to pay off my student debt, making less time for the art I’d promised to pursue.

I began to ask myself the question, “Who am I, if I am not an artist? And then later when faced with possible infertility, “Who am I, if I don’t become a mother?”

These hard questions have followed and only grown more puzzling as I’ve grown older, as life has changed and as God has called my family to different seasons.

“Who am I, If I don’t enjoy photography anymore?”

“Who am I, if I’m not in full-time ministry?”

“Who am I, if I’m just a stay-at-home mom?”

“Who am I, if my friend group has grown smaller?”

Maybe you’ve asked yourself some tough questions. Maybe you’ve wrestled with an identity that you thought you’d find security in, only to find that life knocked you and your ideas of self to the cold-hard floor.

For purpose. For strength. For answers.

“Who am I…if I never get married?”

“…if I’m divorced?”

“…if I’m not an athlete?”

“…if I move away from family?”

“…if I’m depressed?”

“…if I’m struggling spiritually?”

“…if my prayer life is weak?”

“…if I hate my job?”

“…if I have so many doubts?”

“…if I’m lonely?”

Sister. Friend. Believer…

I want to remind you of who you are, if you are a follower ofJesus Christ, and of who HE created you to be.

You are A New Creation: “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation…” 2 Corinthians 5:17

You are Free: “So who the Son sets free, is free indeed.” John 8:36

You are Alive in Christ: “So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.” Romans 6:11

You are Redeemed & Forgiven: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace…” Ephesians 1:7

You are Chosen: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved…” Colossians 3:12

May we preach these truths to ourselves in those moments where our identity is wrapped up in the world’s ideologies and not in the saving Gospel of Jesus Christ and who HE has made us to be, in Him.

A friend from college reached out to me recently and reminded me of that phrase, “I’m gonna make art, and make babies.” She said, “Brianna, you really are Living Your dream!”  

What a humbling reminder of God’s graciousness in my life. I am  writing, creating, and making art.  I do stay home with three beautiful children that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to have, and I’m married to my best friend in the world.  

But now I know that my identity is wrapped intricately and purposefully in so much more than, “Hi, my name is Brianna and I’m an author…. I’m a mom…I’m a wife…”

My identity is found in the Creator.

In bringing glory to HIS name, and in what He calls me:  His own.

You can connect with Brianna on IG  and FB

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