SHEDDING OUTDATED IDENTITIES

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Yesterday, the news of the passing of God's general, Rev. Dr. Uma Ukpai flooded social media. The Christian community continues to reflect on the life and times of this great evangelist. We cannot but acknowledge the impact this man has made in the Nigerian Christian community and beyond. He found his faith in Christ and maintained a steady course at a time when there was no physical attractiveness to Christianity and being a believer in Nigeria. Just pure drive and hunger to see souls turned to Christ.

While we reflect on his life and times, I cannot help but wonder the identities this man had to shed in order to come into God's purpose for his life. Today, we celebrate the man, but the journey to becoming the man we now celebrate and see as a role model is a story only he and his maker can truly tell.

There’s a moment in every believer’s journey when God whispers, “This version of you has served its time.”
Not because you failed, but because grace is moving you forward.

The same God who called Abram to leave his father’s house (Genesis 12:1) still calls us today- not always from a physical place, but from familiar versions of ourselves. The names we’ve answered to, the roles we’ve played, the identities we’ve worn like second skin.

There’s a kind of shedding that feels like loss but is really a divine exchange.
You lose the version of you that was built on people’s expectations and find the one rooted in God’s truth.
You stop striving to prove yourself and start resting in who He already says you are.

This process is rarely tidy. It’s more like the potter reshaping clay (Jeremiah 18:4)- breaking down what was, so that what must be can take form.

God doesn’t rush your transformation.
He lets you wrestle, question, and weep through it.
And still, He calls you beloved.

If you are looking at Evang. Dr. Uma Ukpai and saying, " That's the kind of impactful life I want to live"-it begins with a shedding.

Let the Saul in you become Paul. You’re not losing yourself; you’re making room for the part of you heaven has been waiting to reveal.

Because the God who began a good work in you is still at it; transforming, renewing, and calling you into a name that fits your destiny.



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