Powerful thinking

I'm still reading one of the best books I've read. Here's a powerful quote from it...

"We always live out of some kind of identity, and the identities we assign ourselves powerfully influence our responses to life."
"The longer we struggle with a problem, the more likely we are to define ourselves by that problem (divorced, addicted, depressed, co-dependent, ADD). We come to believe that our problem is who we are. But while these labels may describe particular ways we struggle as sinners in a fallen world, they are not our identity."
"There is a radical difference between saying, 'I am a depressed person,' and saying, 'I am a child of God 'in Christ' and tend to struggle with depression.' The second statement does not pretend that the war isn't raging, but it is infused with hope. It says, 'Yes, I wrestle with depression every day, but I am not alone. I do not rest on my own strength and wisdom. I have come to understand that my Creator and Savior is also my Father. I am beginning to grasp how rich I really am because of my place in his family, and I am learning to live out of the riches he has provided, rather than the poverty of the identities I used to assign myself.' " pg 260-261

Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands, Paul Tripp