Christine Caine on Being Unnamed
Last week, we released a new episode of our podcast, Pardon the Mess, with Christine Caine as the featured guest. I hope you take time to listen to it because Christine’s message is powerful and relevant to so many areas of our lives.
During the interview, Christine shared the story of how, at the age of thirty-three, she found out she and her brother had been adopted at birth from different biological mothers.
After the initial shock of learning this news from their adoptive mother, Christine and her brother sought to find out what they could about their birth and biological families.
During that process, Christine received birth records from the Australian government that completely shook her.
Number 2508
At the top of document, there was a spot that was supposed to have her name listed, but instead she saw the word unnamed.
As hard as it was to see that she was recorded as “unnamed” at birth, it was even harder to read the next line where she was simply identified as number 2508 of 1966.
Christine was devastated when she realized she’d been born with no family, no name, and that her only identity was nothing more than a number.
She shared how she sat down that day with her Bible on one side and the government document on the other side, knowing she had a choice to make: she could either believe the truth of the government document saying she was unnamed and unwanted at birth, or she could choose to believe God’s Word, which was also sitting in front of her and speaking of her great identity and value in Christ.
What are you believing today?
Christine’s story reminds us that we all have a choice.
Most of us won’t find out one day we were “unnamed” at birth and assigned a random number. But we are all faced with the world’s false narrative about who we are.
Insignificant.
Insufficient.
Ill-equipped.
Each day, all of us have to choose whether to believe such messaging or the truth in God’s Word about who we are.
On the day she received the government documents, Christine was led to Isaiah 49: “Before I was born the Lord called me; From my mother’s womb he has spoken my name.”
In her book Undaunted, Christine describes this pivotal moment in her life:
I felt the Lord speaking so clearly to me. Your birth certificate may say you’re unnamed, but I named you when you still were in your mother’s womb. You aren’t a number to me. You aren’t unnamed. I knew you before you were born that you would be adopted and that your adoptive parents would name you Christine. I have chosen you for great things. These documents in front of you don’t define you or your destiny. My word is the final authority on that. And I formed you. Your freedom will be determined by whether you allow what I think and say about you to matter more than what anyone else thinks or says, including your biological mother or the workers filling out forms for the Department of Community Services. They have said what you are not. But I say what you are, who you are, and you are created in my image, not theirs. You reflect my glory.
Christine chose God’s Word that day—his truth as to who she is and was even before she was born.
If you know anything about Christine Caine today and all that the Lord is doing through her ministry, it’s pretty easy to see she has never wavered in that decision and the Lord has blessed it.
What are you modeling for tomorrow?
I’m sharing Christine’s story for several reasons I hope will resonate with you like they did with me.
First, Christine’s story is our story.
We all have decision points in life where we have to choose what we are going to believe. The culture and messaging around us will inevitably leave us with a narrative that is not the Lord’s, and we must decide if we’re going to believe God’s truth or that of the world.
Second, knowing God’s Word is critical.
Thankfully, Christine was raised by adoptive parents who pointed her to God’s Word. When the time came for her to make some tough decisions as to what she truly believed, she was already filled with Scripture, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak truth to her through God’s Word. Christine says it this way: “When you abide in his Word, he abides in you.”
Lastly, I hope we don’t miss the huge parenting application in Christine’s message.
Our kids will be given messaging throughout their lives that does not line up with God’s Word. They will hear false messaging about their worth, their value, the goodness of God, the only way to salvation, marriage, sex, and so much more.
What are we doing today to prepare them for the hard places tomorrow where they will have to decide what truth they believe?
Do our kids know that God’s Word is the answer for any struggle they face, or have we taught them to rely only on our advice?
Have we shown them the example of living in alignment with God’s Word, even if that’s the harder road to walk?
My prayer for our children is that, when they go through the tough places in life, they will be able to discern God’s truth—and not the culture’s “truth”—for their lives.
I’ll end with Christine’s words: “When you believe God is who he says he is, when you hang onto him and his Word in faith, his truth sets you free.”
May we all have such a testimony of living free, knowing that the God who defines us longs to define our children through us as well.
