After God began reshaping my own story of codependency more than a decade ago—and after walking alongside countless women and couples facing similar struggles—I began to notice something.
The women experiencing the deepest freedom weren't necessarily the women whose husbands had changed the most.
They were the women who had become deeply rooted in who they were in Christ.
They had learned to stop tying their worth, peace, identity, and sense of security to another person's actions or approval. Instead, they were learning to live from the freedom Jesus had already purchased for them.
“So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” — John 8:36
And that freedom began changing everything.
As their identity became rooted in Christ, they began recognizing and breaking the destructive patterns they had lived from for years—patterns I now call a Borrowed Identity.
They began to understand that their lives belonged to God. That they were fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). That they didn't have to spend their lives desperately trying to earn love, prove their worth, control outcomes, rescue others, disappear, perform, or fight to feel safe.
Jesus didn't die so we could remain bound to the very patterns He came to set us free from.
Yet I meet so many Christian women who desperately want healing. They've prayed. They've read the books. They've listened to sermons and podcasts. They've tried harder, forgiven again, communicated differently, and begged God to change their marriage.
And still, they feel stuck.
Not because God has forgotten them.
But because sometimes we are asking God to change what is happening around us, while He is inviting us to see what He wants to heal and transform within us.
Sometimes we can't walk out of a pattern we don't yet have eyes to see.
That was true for me, too.
And this is where my story begins...