New Identity Magazine

Seeing Who God Sees

Erica Westbrook — Mon, 21 Oct 2019 17:21:47 +0000

When I was in the 6th grade, a friend told me I had the ugliest smile she had ever seen. She suggested that I not smile so hard. I don’t have the best memory, but when certain hurtful words from my past are used, I can vividly tell you when, where, and how I felt at the time. To this day, I have my friend’s comment in the back on my mind when I smile. When I see or hear something really funny…

Source

Worthy of Relationship

Ashley High — Thu, 07 Mar 2019 17:00:00 +0000

She was six years old when her mother abandoned her and took off for Florida. She was 22 the Valentine’s Day when her drug dealer boyfriend dumped her and their newborn son on the couch while he left to play basketball with friends. She was 26 when she moved into Room 4 at the local homeless shelter. And she was 33 last year when her graphic design company grew 553% and she happily celebrated her…

Source

CONFRONTING DR. JEKYLL

Steven Butwell — Mon, 24 Oct 2016 16:00:56 +0000

Photo Credit: Carmelo Fabrizio Scordino | Flickr (Creative Commons) I squandered the life I cherished by courting Mrs. Hyde. But what I had to gain was my life. “For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his…

Source

PRIMED FOR A PURPOSE

Melanie Watson — Mon, 11 Jan 2016 17:39:27 +0000

Photo Credit: takasuii | Flickr (Creative Commons) One night in 2008, I happened upon a website called Christian pen pals. Out of curiosity I made a pen pal ad. I wanted to be friends with other Christian women who held my values and beliefs. As soon as I saw the picture of Sarah, I knew she was different. We began emailing back and forth and found out we had similar tastes in music, TV shows…

Source

NO COOKIE-CUTTER CHRISTIAN

Ben Helms — Tue, 13 Oct 2015 16:56:39 +0000

I have this awesome friend. His name is Tyler. He’s one of the smartest, funniest, and overall best people I’ve ever met. And when we did meet, back in college, we got along instantly. We just meshed. So when he told me he hadn’t grown up in church—like I had—I remember being surprised. And when he said he’d first heard about Christ through his friends in high school, not at a young age through…

Source

Unsteady Steps

Nicholas Sowell — Mon, 14 Apr 2014 16:27:55 +0000

Photo Credit: Katie Landry @ Flickr (CC) When he was thirteen, the pain of abuse, neglect, and turmoil between his parents fighting over him became too much. Filled with anger and resentment towards his father, he needed a way to cope. He wanted to find a way out of the pain, so he began experimenting and trying marijuana. Eventually this led to an evening where he and his friends took…

Source

A TESTIMONY OF LOVE

Sarah Donawerth — Thu, 16 May 2013 16:11:27 +0000

Photo Credit: dhammza @ Flickr (Creative Commons) Esther’s testimony actually begins with the work of her great-great-grandfather. He was a servant to English missionaries in India at the beginning of the movement for Indian self-rule. The missionaries soon decided to relocate to South Africa and they took Esther’s great-great-grandfather with them. When the missionaries finally returned to…

Source

A NEW SONG

Lindsey A. Frederick — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 17:07:53 +0000

Gert Kumi performing a recital in Clifton, New Jersey. Hardship was a familiar song for Gert Kumi. The rasping, discordant tune spilled daily from the lips of his people. From 1944 to 1991 Albanians bowed under the weight of oppression. Communism muted the peaceful, spirited refrains of liberty and justice. When religion was declared unconstitutional in 1967, Albania became the first and only…

Source

A 30-DAY SEARCH PARTY

M Ramoran — Thu, 16 Sep 2010 19:32:55 +0000

Before I even started writing this assignment, I knew that in the last couple of years, I felt like a part of me faded away. Like I had been “off” for half a decade and had become a lesser version of what I once was. It’s difficult to explain since most of you reading this article never knew me before. But I once felt like God had great plans for me. It wasn’t out of a misguided belief in my own…

Source

FROM THE LAND OF THE DEAD TO THE LAND OF THE LIVING

Shannon Clark-Rivera — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:06:36 +0000

Photo Credit: robclimbing | Flickr (Creative Commons) I don’t know if my father was the first in our family tree to commit suicide, but what I do know is that when it’s my time to leave this earth, it will not be by my own hand. At one point though, I felt differently. I wanted to take my own life. It was a dark and scary time, and it was only God who prevented this act from occurring.

Source