There’s a brilliant family of people in Africa, called the Himba. When a Himba woman is expecting a child, she goes out into the wilderness with a few of her sisters, and together they wait till they hear in their hearts the song of the coming child.
Himba women wait as long as they need to; they wait under stars; they wait until the dream of the child begins to beat like a singular rhythm under their hearts. Because these sisters know that every heart has its own unique beat—its own wild and blazing purpose. And when the Himba women attune to the song of the coming child, they circle around and together they sing the miraculous refrain of the expected child.
Then they return to the gathering of their people and teach this child’s unique song to the waiting community.
When the anticipated child is finally born and taken into arms, the Himba family enfolds her with their presence, and their voices rise, singing the child’s own song to her breathing in first air of this earth.
Later, when the child begins her schooling, the villagers gather and boldly chant the child’s song. And then when the child passes through the initiation to adulthood, the Himba again circle round and sing hopefully and bravely. At the time of marriage, the young woman again hears the assuring notes of her very own song, carrying her forward to meet her hopes.
But there is one more occasion upon which the Himba villagers sing to a child.
If at any time during her life the sister loses her way, falls short, forgets who she really is, or lets anything steal the dream of who she is meant to be, she is gently beckoned to the center of the village. And there she stands, her people forming a safe, ringing circle around her, like her own galaxy of stars.
Then the villagers sing, letting the beat of her drum, the rhythm of her own being rouse her to wake to the dream of her soul again. They sing her own soul song to her because Himba sisters believe that change happens most when we remember who we are and Whose we are.
This is what every woman must know: the first tactic of the enemy is always to distort your identity. Genuine serenity is found only when you know your genuine identity. And you can find your true destiny only when you find your true identity.
Do you know who you really are under the false facades and the piles of work and the relentless exhaustion and the suffocating masks?
Maybe for too long you can’t seem to wake from the nightmare of feeling like “not enough” —not good enough, smart enough, pretty enough, trendy enough, accomplished enough—and this is what keeps you from waking to the abundantly more than enough God has for you.
Maybe your heart has thickened into this long, scared callus and you’ve numbed yourself to getting wounded ever again. You smile, you laugh, you nod—but when you look in the mirror, you can’t even remember who you really are or who you were bravely meant to be. But these pages you hold in your hand are your song sheets to wake you to “the dream of you.”
These pages will sing your beauty when you see yourself ugly.
This symphony will sing your worth when you see yourself worn out.
These lyrics will sing hope when you feel deeply hurt.
This song will sing of you as His Beloved when you struggle to believe.
Your uncommonly wise sister Jo Saxton intimately knows the song of you because she listens in rare and luminous ways to the heartbeat of your Father. She has written a symphony for your soul, a movement of song that will find you and remind you, because you are not defined by the blind or the unkind or mankind, but only by the Conductor of the Cosmos who sang the dream of you into glorious light.
Your Father knows the beat of your heart when you have forgotten how to be. He knows the rhythm of your return when you don’t know the road back. He knows the lyrics of why you are loved,when you can’t remember quite how to live. He won’t let you lose your way.
And when you have forgotten the words to His Word—to yourself—Jo will sing your Father’s song for you and you will be forever changed, undone, and remade. Jo takes your broken heart longing to break free, and she cups the dream of you close, and she whispers the words to you, so you can remember the refrain of you again and sing the song that was always meant to be yours before the beginning of time:
You know exactly how I was made, bit by bit,
how I was sculpted from nothing into something.” (Psalm 139)
I am completely God’s masterpiece. (Ephesians 2:10)
I am completely forgiven. (Eph. 1:7)
I am completely a new creature. (II Cor. 5:17)
I am completely strong in the Lord. (Eph. 6:10)
I am completely accepted in Christ. (Eph. 1:6)
I am completely loved with an everlasting love. (Jer. 31:3)
I am completely overtaken with blessings. (Deut. 28:2)
And your Father and your sisters will sing it soft and strong and certain, of the dream of who you are, until you find your way again. Until you remember the notes of your song — one that awakes all of you to everything you ever dreamed of.
Find your realest identity — and you find how to be really free.
Lean into these soul-stirring pages that will just keep singing your song.
Tuning you to what grace is, awaking you to your soul’s Lover
who rejoices over you with gladness, who never stops singing the Belovedness of you,
until every single one of your fears is quieted with His love,
and the dream of you comes true.
—Ann Voskamp, New York Times best-selling author of The Broken Way and One Thousand Gifts
