Demi Tebow, former Miss Universe and wife of football star Tim Tebow, recently made an appearance on the “Whoa That’s Good Podcast” hosted by Sadie Robertson Huff, where she discussed how important it is for one to put their identity in Jesus Christ. Tebow cited her own experience of placing too much importance on the material offerings in the world around us.
“I think this message really comes from thinking that I knew who I was, but I totally rooted my identity in something that was absolutely temporary,” she said. “The night I handed over my crown as Miss Universe to the very rightful next winner, I left that stage, got in the car rushed to the airport to catch my flight back to South Africa, and I realized I forgot something on that stage.”
She later described how she had seemingly gotten lost in the identity of being Miss Universe. “And it wasn’t just that beautiful pearly diamond crown, sparkly crown, but I realized later on…I had forgotten the most important thing [which] was my identity,” she described. Tebow further emphasized the temporary nature of the crown that left her feeling empty when it was gone.
“The value that I attached to that thing that I got to wear for a short period of time. You know, I think of like COVID, right? Like when all the planes were stranded and nobody got to fly anywhere, those big Boeings were pretty much worthless because…they weren’t being used. And the thing that gave me my value, the thing that people booked me for, the thing that people wanted to talk to me about, the thing that people wanted to invite me to be in the room for was now gone,” she continued.
“That stripped me of so much of what I thought my value was, and it left me in a season that really felt like a wasted season, but I later realized like it wasn’t a wasted season, it was a waiting season,” she added. According to Huff, she eventually realized that it was good for her to have lost the temporary identity in the status as it eventually brought her to Jesus.
“I think it’s so good for you to, if you’re able to, strip those things away in some sense just to really find yourself in Christ,” Huff added. Tebow recently published a book titled “A Crown That Lasts,” which focuses on the very topic that was discussed during the podcast.
“When I sat down to begin writing it a few years ago, I realized I had so much internal work I still needed to do in order to write the message I felt God was calling me to write. I realized that writing this book was just as much for myself as it was for you all, and it’s something I’m still learning too! The message in A Crown That Lasts isn’t one I feel worthy of sharing, but it is one I feel very called to share,” she wrote on Instagram. “My prayer is that God uses my experiences, stories and lessons – including the ones I’ve learned the hard way – to help you claim your true identity, become more confident in God and live out your unique purpose too!”
Featured image credit: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Demi_Leigh-Nel_Peters_in_2018_(2).jpg, Bollywood Vintage, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons