“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise." (Galatians 3:28-29).

There are so many labels. Far too many. Oh, how easy it is to fall into the trap of labelling ourselves or others. God has taught me many lessons about judgment over the years. There was a time in my life when I would have labelled others without even realizing I was doing so. Now, I cringe at those memories. By God’s grace, I want to be free from labelling others.

I grew up in the ’60s to mid-’70s, in a Christian home in the relative age of innocence, where labels were used in abundance. My family would gather around the dinner table after church and label a sermon as either bad or good. People were accepted or rejected based on the head of the household’s opinion. Children were to be silent, so I was.

I excelled in school and was labelled ‘teacher's pet’. I was labelled a ‘tom-boy’, which I can only imagine would have vastly different implications in today’s world. I’ve been labelled ‘skinny’, which has always stumped me because, really, how do you respond to that? Yes, kids were mean, but not on the level of cyber-bullying, thank goodness for small mercies.

The actual piercing of my soul came much later in life when I was labelled a ‘divorcee’. This was not a label I ever expected or wanted. At the time, I even labelled myself… a failure, a loser, and a disgrace. No one could have been harder on herself. The pain was deep, and wounds were inflicted through the insensitivity of others. Unfortunately, this can happen within the body of Christ.

I no longer seemed to fit into any category. It was so debilitating as though an amputation had taken place. I was no longer a wife, yet I wasn’t a widow, at least not by the definition of the widow support group. They thought I couldn’t understand their pain, nor was I allowed into their community. Like pain can be compared. Loss is loss. Why is that so difficult to understand? My husband left me for another. The circumstances are intensely personal and deeply painful. My story is as unique to me as a widow’s story is to her. The comments that were made to me were often cutting. For example, “there are two sides to every story” was one of the many insensitive remarks, again said within the body of Christ.

God has taught me that often it’s more beneficial to sit in silence with someone in their heartache than to offer meaningless words. Better to say nothing than to say something inappropriate. Don’t say we understand if we’ve never been through what someone’s going through. The book of Job is a wonderful resource that teaches us that what hurting people need is simply the comfort of another’s presence, which, when appropriate, can include a hug. “Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was” (Job 2:13).

The redeeming part of this story is that when we have suffered hurt and heartache, and allow God’s Spirit to comfort, heal and teach us His truth about who we are in Christ Jesus, we have a brand-new label. I am God’s Beloved and Chosen daughter… a child of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. I am uniquely gifted, wonderfully and purposely made, and nothing that has happened to me is beyond being used and redeemed for His glory.

My sensitivity towards others has been heightened, deepened, and broadened because of what God has brought me through.

God loves us with an everlasting love. He has made us His very own. We are His, and that’s a label worth wearing!Susan Page is the daughter of the King, His beloved child, wonderfully forgiven and blessed! Susan longs to age gracefully, becoming more like Jesus as she seeks the hidden treasures revealed to her through Scripture, literature, the arts, humankind, and nature.