Your Past Doesn’t Define You—God Does
(Plus interview with Rick Altizer, director of the powerful documentary He Calls Me Daughter)
“Therefore from now on we recognize no one by the flesh; even though we have known Christ by the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:16-17
Something changed my life forever on August 13th, 2025.
That was the day Heaven’s gates opened to receive my daddy.
Since then, I have carried the necklace he wore for as long as I can remember: the Star of David, a reminder of our Jewish heritage and of God’s eternal covenant to His people—gentiles and Jews alike.
I have been blessed to grow up with a very present father, and looking back, I cannot remember a time when I did not feel loved. A quiet, gentle soul, Daddy was not given to many spoken words, but he had a way of communicating his profound devotion through written messages and a warm embrace that said a thousand words.
I remember when I first heard from a pastor how much our earthly fathers influence the way we view our Heavenly Father. As the pastor delivered his message, a profound sense of gratitude embraced my heart. Like every human being, Daddy had many flaws, but I never questioned his love. And that made all the difference when I became a Christian.
Indeed, since becoming a believer, I have struggled with many aspects of my faith, but I have never questioned my Heavenly Father’s love or struggled to embrace my identity as a daughter of the King.
And yet, I know my story is not every daughter’s story.
I know many women struggle to accept God’s love or fully embrace their God-given identity. And I believe that, for many, this struggle is deeply connected to their relationship with their earthly father.
If you are a woman and you can relate to what I write one way or the other, I invite you to ponder:
Who do I truly believe I am? What is my identity?
Not the version shaped by disappointment.
Not the one defined by what others have said—or failed to say.
But the truest version of yourself… the one only God sees.
At the heart of every woman’s story is this search for identity in Christ—a longing to understand who we are beyond the wounds, beyond the labels, beyond the past that still whispers when the world grows quiet.
What Does It Mean to Find Your Identity in Christ?
To find our identity in Christ is not simply to adopt a new belief—it is to step into a new reality.
Scripture tells us that we are chosen, redeemed, and deeply loved. Yet for many of us, there remains a gap between what we know and what we feel.
We may believe God is a loving Father…
But still struggle to feel worthy of His love.
This is where so many of us live—in that space between truth and emotion.
When Your Past Tries to Define You
Our stories shape us.
The words spoken over us.
The love we received—or didn’t.
The wounds we carry quietly into adulthood.
All of it forms a narrative. And if we’re not careful, that narrative begins to compete with the truth of who God says we are. The enemy is subtle in this way. He doesn’t always try to destroy truth—he simply tries to distort it. And when we open our eyes to his schemes, we realize his lies may be keeping our identity from being rooted in Christ—and instead anchoring it in pain, rejection, or shame.
A New Name, A New Identity
I recently interviewed Rick Altizer about his new documentary, He Calls Me Daughter.
Altizer was the director for the Kendrick Brothers’ documentary, Show Me the Father. This beautiful film follows the stories of several men who carry “father wounds.” During our interview, he shared about the moment he heard God calling him to make a movie about the impact of father wounds in women.
In He Calls Me Daughter, we see the impact of absent or abusive fathers unfold through real stories—women who have walked through brokenness and emerged with something new:
A restored identity.
Not because their past changed but because they encountered the God who calls them His own.
Daughter.
It is not just a word.
It is a declaration of belonging.
A covering of grace.
An invitation to live from a place of acceptance, not striving.
Living as God’s Beloved Daughter
When your identity is rooted in Christ, everything begins to shift.
You no longer strive for approval—you live from it.
You no longer chase worth—you rest in it.
You no longer fear rejection—you are anchored in belonging.
This is the invitation before us.
Not to become someone new…
but to finally live as who we’ve been all along.
If this message stirred something in your heart, I encourage you to take the next step. Watch the full interview below and don’t miss this movie!
- Watch He Calls Me Daughter and download the 6-week Bible study: https://hecallsmedaughter.org/
- Don’t miss my earlier conversation with Alex Kendrick and Stephen Kendrick about Show Me the Father: Show Me the Father Documentary
