If you would’ve asked me a year ago where I found my sense of value and worth, I wouldn’t have hesitated with my nice-and-tidy answer.

God. And I believed it.

But then life turned upside down. And everything changed. I changed. After two life-altering surgeries, I woke up physically and functionally different. The “Michele” I knew for 43 years was no longer. In her place was someone I didn’t recognize, someone who couldn’t do what she did before.

The hard truth: I missed my old self. I missed the woman who could eat dinner and laugh with her family without a thought. I missed the girl who could share a conversation with a friend or talk from a stage with ease and without pain. I miss her still. And I ache with the loss.

But you know what’s even worse than the grief?

The fear that I’m a lesser woman, a lesser person, as a result. 

You see, hidden behind the physical losses hovers the fear that I no longer have significance, no longer have purpose. Which means {deep breath} …

Maybe I didn’t find my value in God after all.

You see, you and I claim a person’s worth is found in God, in his unconditional and unfailing love for his creation. But then we spend a crazy amount of time and energy on how we look and what we do. We’re a desperate people, clawing to be successful, recognized, affirmed.

Where exactly are we finding our value?

Not where we claim. But sooner or later something will turn life upside down. When it does, we’ll find out the truth. Either we’ve anchored ourselves to cement. Or we’ve clawed at sand.

That’s the subject of today’s video. Not an easy topic to dive into, but a necessary one.

P.S. Say “no” to sand.

[callout]This is a short selection of an in-depth conversation Michele shared with a circle of close friends March 7, 2015. For background on the series, you can read about it here. If you’d like to watch the interview in its entirety (it’s just over 55 minutes), please click here for instant access.[/callout]