The Voice That Almost Stayed Silent

In 1968, a young woman named Roberta Flack was working as a music teacher in Washington, D.C. She played piano at a small club called Mr. Henry's on weekends, not because she saw herself as a performer, but because she needed the extra income. She had been told by well-meaning advisors that her voice was too quiet, too intimate for the stage. She believed them. She saw herself as a teacher, not an artist.

Then one evening, musician Les McCann walked into the club. He heard something no one else had named. Within months, Flack had a recording contract. Her rendition of "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" would eventually hold the number one spot for six consecutive weeks and win a Grammy.

The gift was always there. But Flack had accepted someone else's definition of who she was.

How many of us do the same thing? We let a boss, a parent, a past failure, or even our own inner critic write the name tag we wear through life. We walk around answering to identities that were never ours to carry.

Scripture offers a different voice. The God who spoke creation into existence looks at you and says, "You are Mine. You are chosen. You are fearfully and wonderfully made." The Almighty does not stutter when He names you.

The question is not whether God has spoken your true identity. He has. The question is whether you will stop answering to the wrong name.