If what comes to mind when we think about God is the most important thing about us, as A.W. Tozer says, then what comes to mind when we think about ourselves might be second.

Of course, the two are related — our God-narratives and self-narratives.

If I believe God is easily disappointed, it’s easier to assume the identity: ​“I am a disappointment.”

If I believe that God is loving, it’s easier to assume the identity: ​“I am loved.”

But believing what is true isn’t as easy as flipping a switch. We can’t will ourselves to have faith. False narratives about God and self are ingrained at the level of habit and brain and body, and it’s these narratives that inform our deep beliefs and identity.

For this reason — and at a friend’s suggestion — James (Jim) Bryan Smith realized he needed a fourth book in his Good and Beautiful series: The Good and Beautiful You.

It took a while for the book to be written because Jim needed time to work through his own unhealthy self-narratives and discover his identity in Jesus. (Something he talked to Nathan Foster about on this week’s podcast.)

For me, discovering the sources of negative self-narratives has been a long and winding journey. It has required a laying bare of the false self, a revealing of suppressed anger, the recognition of traumas of omission, the intervention of friends and mental health professionals, and encounters with the living Christ to begin to move toward wholeness. (I wrote an article about this journey so far.)

The wonderful news is that healing is possible. The false narratives about God and self can be rewritten — not by force or will, but by willingness and cooperation with the Holy Spirit, who often likes to work through counselors and community.