The man renames Jacob - Israel, because he 'strove with God and with men, and prevailed.' Jacob's new identity is wrapped around his struggle, not his ease or his success before.
When I went through sexual abuse recovery, my therapist helped me see that the trauma wasn't all I was, but it was part of what shaped me. I'm the person who was hurt and who fought her way through it. That's not a shameful identity; it's a marked identity.
Israel means 'he strives with God.' Not 'he has faith,' not 'he's righteous.' He struggles. That becomes his name. His inheritance. His kids are Israelites - they inherit a wrestling tradition. Struggle isn't something to overcome to find your real identity. For some of us, the struggle is the identity.
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