What's in a name?

     “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Man do I love Shakespeare, the drama, the language, ahhh the romance.  Yes, I am a hopeless romantic in some ways; I love a good love story, one with twists and turns, ups and downs.  But I think maybe Shakespeare missed the mark on this quote.  I think that what we call something, or someone, is of great importance.  I mean think about it, we love to hear our names called out.  We love to write it down in different ways.  We would hear it in a crowd full of conversation.  We identify ourselves by our names, by what people call us.  This thought took me down a wonderful path of healing several years ago when someone proposed this question to me “What does God call you?”  I had never thought of this.  I had never questioned who God said I was.  Now this was very important for me during this season in my life as I was struggling through figuring out who I was, what I was going to do with my life, and where my worth laid.  If you recall in scripture God often changed the names of people at a significant point in their journey with Him.  Abram became Abraham, Saul became Paul.  This is important; this is how they knew who they were in God’s plan.  So I began to pray “God, who do YOU say that I am?” I prayed for months, I cried out to Him for an answer. 

     At this point in my life I was broken, my heart was hurting, I felt useless and worthless.  I had just graduated from Union University, a private faith-based college in West Tennessee.  I was so proud of myself for my accomplishment; however I had no idea who I was anymore.  I had ALWAYS been a student; I had always been a “good” student.  I knew what my worth was; it was attached to my transcript.  Suddenly I was… what?  This is where I met God, in the floor of my living room (think criss-cross-applesauce style) with my Bible open and my eyes flooded with tears.  I was begging Him to tell me who I was.

     I was sitting quietly staring at my feet (I have a tattoo of “beloved” in Hebrew on my left foot).  God began to stir in my heart “You are MY beloved”.  I was completely uncomfortable with this thought.  Beloved??? Really??? That sounded so intimate, so romantic?!  Is that really how God felt about me?  I had always thought of God as “Father”, a concept I was comfortable with considering the absence of mine in my childhood.  This is when I realized it was equally as important for me to know what I called God, what was His name in my relationship with Him.  He was calling me His beloved, He was beckoning me into a deeper, more intimate relationship with Him, one that is beyond child and father, one that is deeper than friend.  So that is where my love affair with God began.  In the floor of my living room, with my heart poured out before Him, God began a slow dance with me.  He took the lead and began twirling me around the dance floor telling me of His love for me.  I had never felt so known, so understood!  God’s desire for all of us is this intimacy, this closeness.  He is not only a father, judge, mentor, friend, He is all of those things, but He is also the LOVER OF YOUR SOUL.  I pray that you would have the opportunity to learn who God says you are, that you would experience this love and intimacy when God calls you by your name.