We Cannot Be Erased

This week my heart felt heavy. As I listened to the news and watched what is unfolding around our nation, I felt disturbed. Bit by bit, it seems there are efforts to remove the presence, influence, and contributions of people of color from positions of leadership, history, and power. We are watching names disappear from government offices, stories challenged in classrooms, and the value of diversity treated as though it no longer matters. And that hurts.

When you know the sacrifices of those who came before us, the marches, the prayers, the tears, the faith, the determination, it is painful to watch people attempt to minimize contributions that helped shape this country. But as I sat quietly with those emotions, God reminded me of something powerful: People may try to erase history, but they cannot erase what God has ordained. Throughout Scripture, there were always people who were overlooked, oppressed, or pushed aside by earthly systems. Yet God still saw them.

I thought about the children of Israel in Egypt, in Exodus 1:8–14. Pharaoh feared their growth and influence so much that he tried to suppress them. Yet the more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied. Their identity was not determined by Pharaoh’s opinion of them. Their future was not controlled by a system trying to diminish them. God had already spoken purpose over their lives.

That truth ministered to me deeply. History has shown that people of faith and people of color, have often survived seasons designed to break them. We built communities while carrying burdens. We created opportunities while facing obstacles. We worshipped through pain and still found ways to hope. Somehow, by God’s grace, we kept rising. Not because circumstances were easy. Not because systems were fair. But because God remained faithful.

I thought about my old family photographs, some have faded around the edges, some with names forgotten over time. Yet even when earthly records fade, the lives they reflect still mattered.

God remembers. And that is where my comfort rests. Our worth is not dependent upon whether the world fully acknowledges us. Our value is not diminished because someone removes our names from a book or our faces from a boardroom. We were created intentionally by God Himself. No administration can erase that. No movement can undo that. No policy can remove what God has written.

That does not mean we stop speaking, teaching, building, mentoring, or preserving our stories. It means we continue with courage, wisdom, and faith. It means we remind the next generation where they came from and whose they are. Because our roots matter.

A tree survives storms because its roots run deep. And many of our roots were watered with sacrifice, resilience, prayer, worship, and unwavering faith in God. Those roots still live in us.

Perhaps that is why we cannot be erased. Because we are more than a paragraph in history. We are evidence of survival. Evidence of perseverance.
Evidence of God’s sustaining hand.

So if your heart feels troubled by what you see happening around you, remember this: God sees you. He sees every weary heart, every parent teaching truth to their children, every leader standing with integrity, every educator preserving forgotten stories, and every person wondering if progress is slipping backward. God still sees us. The same God who carried generations before us is still carrying us now.

What would change if we truly believed our identity was secured in God and not in the approval of people? Perhaps we would walk with greater courage.
Perhaps we would stop shrinking ourselves in spaces that refuse to honor our value. Perhaps we would remember that what God has named and called cannot be erased.

Pearl’s Prayer:

Lord, when the world feels uncertain and our hearts grow weary, remind us that our identity is rooted in You. Help us to preserve truth, walk in dignity, and continue building despite opposition. Strengthen every discouraged heart and remind us that we are seen, valued, and called by Your name.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.