Stop Waiting. It’s Time to Run.
The Breanna Williams Podcast | Season 3: EXODUS | Episode 1: Exodus Live Podcast
Scripture
"Moses answered the people, 'Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today... The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.' Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.'"— Exodus 14:13–16 (NIV)
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Devotional
There is a question most of us have asked, quietly or out loud, at least once:
Who am I?
And here is what I've noticed — the way we answer that question shapes everything. Not just how we introduce ourselves at a party. Everything. The career you chose. The relationship you stayed in too long. The one you left. The way you walk into a room. The food you eat. Whether you work out. Whether you speak up. Identity is the foundation of all of it. Identity is simply what you believe about yourself.
And for most of us, somebody else built that foundation before we knew what was happening.
I've talked to a 16-year-old who decided she was fat because of TikTok and Instagram. I've talked to a woman in her 30s who wears black every single day because her parents called her crazy when she was young — and she's been hiding ever since. I've talked to a successful, driven woman whose workaholism wasn't ambition. It was a little girl who learned that if she got straight A's and stayed quiet, maybe the abuse would stop.
These are real people. Real stories. And the common thread? Satan used a lie to block them from who they really are.
John 10:10 says the enemy comes to kill, steal, and destroy. But one of the subtlest weapons he uses isn't sickness or failure — it's a lie planted early, growing deep, that you never traced back to its root. If he can blind you from who God says you are, he doesn't really have much more to do. He did it to Eve in the garden. He tried it on Jesus in the wilderness — right after God literally said from heaven, "This is my Son, whom I love." Satan waited until Jesus was hungry and weak and then said: "If you're really the Son of God..."
Same strategy. Different target. Your name fits right in that sentence.
So let me ask you something: when you asked yourself who am I, who did you go to for the answer? Your mama? Your career? A relationship? Social media? Your past? Isaiah 55:11 promises that nothing from God comes back void. If you're still asking the question and not getting an answer, you may not have gone to the right source yet.
Here's the process — and I won't pretend it's easy:
First, find the lie. Trace it. Ask yourself: Why do I believe this about myself? Where did it come from? Who said it? When? The closer the person, the deeper the impact. Most of the time, it goes back to childhood — to a version of you that didn't have the tools to process it yet. We need to go back and heal that kid. Because that 8-year-old is still running the show every time a triggering situation comes up.
Then, grieve it. A lot of us want to skip straight from the cross to the resurrection. But Jesus was in the tomb for three days. God wrote a whole book called Lamentations. Some things deserve to be cried over. If you don't kill the lie at the root, it just grows back stronger. So sit in it. Let God meet you there. That's not weakness — that's the door.
Then, replace the lie with truth. When Satan came at Jesus with twisted scripture, Jesus came right back: "It is written. It is written. It is written." The Word of God is your weapon. God made you in his image (Genesis 1:26) — you are his image-bearer, the way ancient kings placed their own statues throughout their kingdom so people would know whose territory they were in. He breathed his own spirit into you (Genesis 2:7). He called you his child (Galatians 4:7). He knew you in your mother's womb, set you apart, and gave you a purpose before you ever took a breath (Jeremiah 1:5). He left the 99 to come after you. He saw Hagar — a woman who wasn't even a believer — in her desert moment. He knows you in the crowd.
That's who God says you are.
And here is where the Exodus comes in.
In Exodus 14, the Israelites have left Egypt, but the Egyptians have changed their minds and they are coming. The people are terrified. They're crying out. Moses is praying. And God's response is not soft, gentle comfort. God says: "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the people to move. Use the staff I gave you. Part the sea. Go."
He had already equipped them. The yes was already yes. He was waiting on them to run.
Moses argued with God from the burning bush. He said he couldn't speak well. He wasn't qualified. He had a complicated past. He literally asked God to send someone else. And God got a little annoyed, gave him his brother Aaron, and said — the answer doesn't change. You're still going.
Maybe that's you today. Praying the same prayer. Waiting for one more sign. Feeling unqualified, unprepared, unsure. And God is saying: I already gave you the staff. I've been saying yes for so long. Stop waiting and go.
You can't run until you know who you are. That's the whole point. But once you've done the work — found the lie, grieved it, replaced it with truth — you don't need to keep circling the same ground. You are an image-bearer. You are a daughter, a son. You are not the mistake; you're a child of God who made a mistake. And that foundation changes how you walk into every room, every relationship, every dream you've been sitting on.
It's time to move.
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Reflection Questions
When you ask yourself, "Who am I?" — whose voice actually answers? Your parents? A past failure? A relationship? How long have you been letting that voice be the authority?
What is one lie about yourself that you've been carrying so long it feels like truth? Can you trace it — who said it, when, and how old were you?
Is there something God has already said yes to in your life that you keep circling back to, asking for another sign? What would it look like to actually move forward this week?
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Prayer
Father,
I've been asking "Who am I?" for a long time. And honestly, I haven't always gone to you first. I've gone to people, to performance, to my past — and I've let all of it build something in me that isn't from you.
Today, I want to be honest. Some of those lies have been with me so long, they feel like mine. I need you to help me find them. And I need the courage to grieve what they cost me instead of just moving on and pretending.
Show me the seed. Show me where it started. And then show me what you actually say about me — not what I've believed, not what I've been told, but what you say.
I want to know who you say I am. And then I want to run.
In Jesus' name, Amen.
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Declarations
Speak these out loud. Let them land.
I am made in the image of God — I am his image-bearer on this earth. (Genesis 1:26)
God breathed his spirit into me. I am not an accident or an afterthought. (Genesis 2:7)
I am a child of God — not a sinner defined by my mistakes, but a son/daughter who makes them. (Galatians 4:7)
Before I was born, God set me apart and gave me a purpose. It has not expired. (Jeremiah 1:5)
I do not need to earn what God has already called mine. The yes is already yes.
I am not the mistake. I am the daughter/son of God who is moving forward.
Season 4: EXODUS — The Breanna Williams Podcast"What if the reason you're still asking 'Who am I?' is because you've been looking for the answer everywhere — except God?"