1 Jan 2026 · 14 min
Sylvie Croslard shares how physical illness, financial strain, and spiritual exhaustion led her to discover that God heals identity before giving direction. She argues that without a restored sense of who you are in Christ, direction feels like pressure. Moses and Gideon both felt unqualified until God affirmed their identity first.
Chapters
Hello and welcome to the Aligned Leader Podcast. I'm Sylvie Croslard, your host. You're not confused, you missed the line. This is a space for leaders who want to hear God clearly, lead without burnout, and live from alignment instead of pressure. If you're tired of striving, overthinking, or pushing for answers, you're in the right place. Sign up to my newsletter and receive a free set of Decree Cards. The link is in the description. Let's begin. I used to pray for clarity, but God was trying to heal me first. I actually started off on a healing journey before I arrived on a deliverance journey. I sought healing first because I kept on getting chest infections, suffering from back problems. I had asthma, and I was a single parent who had to juggle several jobs to make ends meet, um, and because I was working for agencies or, um, short-term placements, um, directly with employers, and when I was not working there was no food on the table basically because I couldn't have sick days, so I had to show up at work sick sometimes, you know, in order to have money to pay bills and did the foot shop. So I sought healing actively after I suffered from two bouts of pneumonia, and that both my daughter and I got really scared. So we, we both got to that place where something had to shift, something had to change regarding my health, regarding our health, uh, for both of us. Um, I was training to, um, to be in healing ministry at the time, um, but my deliverance journey started say really in 2020, just after COVID, um, and that is still ongoing because once you start with this, it is maintenance, you know, it requires upkeep, uh, it becomes a lifestyle. Now I was confused about my purpose because I didn't know who I was in Christ. I didn't know my identity in Christ, and God helped me to come to that place of knowing who I am in Him through healing, through deliverance. Through getting rid of some things that were hindering my progress and my health, hindering my mindset. And I'm talking about this from where I stand now, having a lifestyle of a relationship with Christ From where I am now, everything is very different because there's hindsight. There's been a lot of redirecting of my steps, um, towards healing and deliverance, um, and I needed that in order to receive, um, clear instructions to be sure that I was hearing the voice of God. Um, now, greater is he who lives in us than the one who lives in the world. And that means that, um, there are things that live in us that hinder us, that battle with the God part God part of us. Now, identity has to be restored before we can be entrusted with mandates and assignments. Otherwise, we just feel overwhelmed. And identity prepares us, prepares our ground for clarity, in order for building to start, in order for God to build us up. It protects us from wrong decisions. So let's look at Moses and Gideon. Now, neither of them thought they were equipped for it, for the godly assignment. You know, they both felt unworthy of their assignment, and Moses went as far as fleeing to another country because he felt he didn't fit where he was in his birth nation, as a Hebrew who had been brought up in Pharaoh's court, indeed, he must have had identity issues about knowing where to fit in Whereas Gideon was on the threshing floor, and so very much a farmer, and he got upgraded to being a warrior for God. He received a new mantle. He received an empowerment of the Holy Spirit to go to battle where he didn't feel equipped. God equipped him, and it was the same for Moses. Where Moses didn't feel equipped, God provided methods or people to help him. But they both needed to come to know who they were to God, um, in order to find out that they had a divine calling and receive direction. Now, direction without healing becomes pressure. Um, it's stressful to say it, it's stressful. Um, it can blind us. About our next step. But we've got the Holy Spirit, and we can lean on, on him because Jesus, Jesus left the Holy Spirit with us to, to be our helper every day, every step of the way. So, Holy Spirit, what part of my identity are you healing today? Is what we can ask him. What truth do I need before my next step? I want you to, to reflect for, for a second on this. What identity piece must be healed before direction comes? What is God preparing you for? Let's decree: My identity is healed, my clarity is emerging, and my next step is becoming clear. Lord Jesus, we, we thank you for this time of elevation, this time of a reckoning, this time of recognizing that we're not who the world says we are, and our purposes don't define our identity. Our jobs don't define our identity. Our ministries and our businesses don't define our identity. Thank you, Lord, that you are the waymaker, the miracle worker, and the light to the darkness. And where there's no way, you can make a way for us to be healed, to have a mind renewed, um, to bring us clarity and heal our wounds so we can speak life, so we can bring who, our purpose, into existence. Decree a thing and say it established. Oh, ash-shayareb. Hmm. Before you go, take a breath and let what you heard settle. You don't need to force clarity. Peace will guide you. Sign up to my newsletter and receive a free set of decree cards to decree a thing and see it established. The link is in the description. Thank you for listening.
