What's in a name?

It's a question I've been pondering a lot lately during my morning devotions. Whether I'm in Acts for my personal quiet time or reading the advent Scriptures to the kids, I can't help but notice the importance the Bible places on names, especially the name (s) of Jesus. If I'm honest, I'd say I've almost been irritated by this obsession with names at times because I don't fully get it. How can a name have so much weight? Aren't someone's actions and heart disposition weightier than the name he or she's been given? Is it just something the Hebrews cared deeply about but not something we need to worry ourselves with these days?

Before I go any further, I want to clarify that when it comes to Jesus' name, I fully believe in its redeeming power. There are many instances when, gripped by fear, all I could do was yell the name of Jesus and there was instant comfort. He's the Lord of the universe and saying his name is praying for Divine intervention. It's acknowledging my powerlessness and His omnipotence and sovereignty in my helpless situation. From the moment I believed in His name, He has altered the course of my life forever...and so I acknowledge that there is power in His name.

To go back to my initial thought though, it  has been fascinating for me to encounter so many verses during my Bible reading lately that mention the word 'name', and to observe the context in which this word comes up.

As I read...
Exodus 3:13 The Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you.' Now they may say to me, 'What is His name?' What shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, " I AM WHO I AM";  and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'" God, futhermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abrahama, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is My name forever and this is My memorial-name to all generations."

Isaiah 7:14 Behold a virgin will be with child and bear a son ad she will call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 9:6 For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; and the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor; Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.

 Matthew 1:21 (The angel told Joseph) She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

All the I AM statements by Jesus in the Gospel of John referring back to I AM THAT I AM in Exodus.

John 14:13 Whatever you ask in My name, that will I do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it.

Acts 2:38 Repent and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Acts 4:18 And when they (the Council) had summoned them (Peter and John), they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.

Acts 4:29-30 "And now, Lord, take note of their threats, and grant that Your bond-servants may speak Your word with all confidence, while You extend Your hand to heal, and signs and wonders take place through the name of Your holy servant Jesus."

Acts 8: 12 But when they believed Philip preaching the good news about the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were being baptized men and women alike.

Acts 9:15 (When Ananias was instructed to meet Paul in Tarsus) But the Lord said to him, "Go, for he is a chosen instrument of Mine, to bear My name before the Gentiles and kings and the sons of Israel; for I will show him how much he must suffer for My name's sake.

Acts 10:43 Of Him all the prophets bear witness that through His name everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins.

I realize this list of verses offers only a tiny glimpse of the monument that God/Jesus' name is in Scriptures, but it was enough to spark an interest in me as I considered all the name changes that occur in Scripture from Abraham to Paul,  the many mentions of the meanings of names throughout the Bible (whether it's referring to a person or location), and finally, the idea that there is power in speaking in THAT name, the name above all names.

With these thoughts swimming in my head, it was so encouraging to make a discovery about Brielle's name the other day. One of the activities that this year's advent reading program asked us to do was to look up the meaning of our names online. I thought it was ironic that we'd be asked to do that when I'd been intrigued with names for a while. What's funny is I thought I knew what all of our names meant. For instance, I fully expected the websites to say that Brielle's name meant 'of cheese'. To my surprise, 4 out of 5 websites listed as their first definition for the name Brielle 'the Lord is my strength'. I was astounded, not only because it didn't match any of the definitions we had encountered when we initially gave her the name Brielle, but because of the weight this 'new' meaning had in Brielle's particular situation. Surely our petite Brielle who has low muscle tone and a weakened brain needed to know that the Lord is her strength.  Surely I needed to know that He's her strength and that He's mine as I try to be there for her!

The most interesting thing is, though I can't say this was a true name change like the ones we encounter in the Bible, it certainly has had the same effect in my life. I am finding much comfort in knowing that her name means the Lord is my strength....that that promise applies to her so specifically. I honestly don't know how the meaning of her name could have changed over the course of 7 years...but I will take it as a gift from my Father's hand. Maybe...just maybe...it's His way of answering my question.

So I ask again: what's in a name?

My answer: at this point, it would seem there's a lot more to a name than I've been willing to admit. I'll keep digging for answers, though, and will definitely continue to call on THAT name that is above all names.  "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe." Proverbs 18:10


Brielle: The Lord is my Strength

Isaiah: Salvation is from the Lord

Andrew: Man, Warrior

Anne-Marie:  Gracious, Full of grace (Anne), Sea of Sorrow or Lady of the Sea (Marie)

And a name that has had an impact in many lives and one that's never far from my thoughts...

Selah: Pause and Reflect; Measure the Value

Brielle's Swim Party

When Brielle asked for a swim party for her birthday, she imagined it  taking place in our own backyard ....so you can imagine how she reacted when she looked out one day and realized that the pool had been taken down. What?!!?? I assured her that we never intended on having her swim party at home...and that her guests wouldn't have wanted to swim in our pool in November (when it was hardly warm enough for most of the summer). I told her we'd find an indoor pool somewhere to rent out. And we did. We rented out the Tigard Swim Center and it was a super idea--totally worth it!

The party started out in the pool center's classroom where we had light refreshments and cake.

I made this banner and silhouette of the girl in honor of her b-day.
The ideas came from a book I received on my birthday from Ashley Carlson.

I made the fondant from scratch for the first time It wasn't easy but rewarding!

Girly decorations for a a girly-girl!!



Guests of honor: Josie, Laura, Lydia, Jillian, Cambria, Macy, Kaiah, Izabell, Raquelle.

It was important to eat healthy snacks a bit before the big dessert!

Lydia sat on the lucky chair and got a prize: colored bubbles!!

Time to blow out the candle and dig in!

Brielle HAS to lick the candle!

All that work is about to be destroyed..but that's the point. Cake is for eating!!

The girl got spoiled with such awesome presents!!

The party then got moved to the swimming pool. My friend Jenn and I cleaned up the classroom in less than 10 minutes and I felt like I was off the hook for the rest of the party! Although there was plenty of preparation done beforehand, it was another super easy kid party with very little clean up and very little time feeling 'on party duty'!!



As I close, I want to express my thanks to God for His amazing provision...that we would be able to do this, that it ended up being less expensive than expected due to the classroom being mildly cluttered upon our arrival and the classroom fee being waived, that my friend Diane would happen to be at the pool and would offer to help me set up before the guests arrive, that Judy Kile--one of the honored guests' grandma--was the only ONE person from the Tigard Swim Center who could book this event for me (which helped make it go as smooth as it did), and that so many guests were able to make it. I know it's just a birthday...but for Brielle, it's a really, REALLY big deal! We're talking about the girl who asked me a little before 7 a.m. on her actual birthday how come she hadn't received calls or presents from anybody yet, how come it was 'business as usual' as we drove to her break-of-the-dawn speech therapy session...basically, how come the world hadn't stopped turning on account of her birthday! Of course, she already HAD opened our present the moment she'd woken up, but she must have been half-asleep still when she did. :)  To quickly dissipate any doubt in her mind that she is special to us, she received three Godsent phone calls from Daddy, Gran, and her faraway Aunt Dee within the hour. The rest of the day and weekend felt like one big birthday celebration!

...He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist... 

 Acts 17:25b-28a

I'm so thankful that He's intimately acquainted with our ways and that He's not far from each one of us. I am amazed that He would have thoughts about us that are too vast in number to count (Psalm 139:17). And in light of those Scriptures, who am I to say that He couldn't possibly care about a little girl's 7th birthday party (-ies)? I honestly think that He's meeting her at her level and I've decided to do all that I can to have her see His hand in her life so that she would love Him....because He first loved her.

Seeing and Praying Like A Child

Brielle recently borrowed my camera while we were babysitting her cousins at their house. The following are some of the pictures she took. They remind me of one of Ann Voskamp's chapters in One Thousand Gifts where her daughter goes around the house and takes snapshots of this and that. Like Voskamp, I was struck by the angles of the camera and by how things look different from 3 ft high. It reminded me of Voskamp's point...that is, that we should see life through a child's eyes...so that God and the gifts He so freely gives can be magnified in our sight.

I also just read Andree Seu's essay Daddy's Girl from this month's issue of World...and again felt admonished to be like a child before Him, not only in the matter of perception...but also in the way I approach Him. To be childlike as I bring my requests to Him. Not to worry about appearances or eloquence...but to be true and honest with what's in my heart. All of it! The silly desires, the shameful passions, the heartaches, the bothers. He knows them all, anyway...and He cares.

Seu also pointed out that children are often in tune with what their parent is doing... and can usually respond quickly to his or her bidding. I immediately thought of my 2-year-old nephew Adam and his constant desire to know what the closest grown-up in his life is doing, "What you're doing, Auntie?" came out of his mouth many times throughout the day this last week when we had him for a couple of days...and I know his mom's days are peppered with that inquiry.  Am I like that with my Father? Am I on the lookout for what the Holy Spirit is doing around me?  Do I strive to be 'in tune' with Him?

This summer, with my kids up close and personal, I want to watch them carefully so I can learn to see from a child's pespective, pray with a child's honesty, and look for what God is doing the way Adam does.



Brielle and Renee. Oh, to have such bright eyes to see God's world!



More Than Conqueror

Saw this on Justin Taylor's blog and had to post it here because it's so good!!

“In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.”

(Romans 8:37)

John Piper asks:

What does “more than conquerors” mean?

How can you be more than a conqueror when you risk for the cause of God and get hurt for it?

Answer:

If you venture some act of obedience that magnifies the supreme value of Jesus Christ and get attacked by one of the enemies mentioned in verse 35, say, famine or sword, what must happen for you to be called simply “a conqueror”? Answer: You must not be separated from the love of Jesus Christ. The aim of the attacker is to destroy you, and cut you off from Christ, and bring you to final ruin without God. You are a conqueror if you defeat this aim and remain in the love of Christ. God has promised that this will happen. Trusting this, we risk.
But what must happen in this conflict with famine and sword if you are to be called more than a conqueror? One biblical answer is that a conqueror defeats his enemy, but one who is more than a conqueror subjugates his enemy. A conqueror nullifies the purpose of his enemy; one who is more than a conqueror makes the enemy serve his own purposes. A conqueror strikes down his foe; one who is more than a conqueror makes his foe his slave.
Practically what does this mean? Let’s use Paul’s own words in 2 Corinthians 4:17: “This slight momentary affliction is preparing [effecting, or working, or bringing about] for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.” Here we could say that “affliction” is one of the attacking enemies. What has happened in Paul’s conflict with it? It has certainly not separated him from the love of Christ. But even more, it has been taken captive, so to speak. It has been enslaved and made to serve Paul’s everlasting joy. “Affliction,” the former enemy, is now working for Paul. It is preparing for Paul “an eternal weight of glory.” His enemy is now his slave. He has not only conquered his enemy. He has more than conquered him.
Affliction raised his sword to cut off the head of Paul’s faith. But instead the hand of faith snatched the arm of affliction and forced it to cut off part of Paul’s worldliness. Affliction is made the servant of godliness and humility and love. Satan meant it for evil, but God meant it for good. The enemy became Paul’s slave and worked for him an even greater weight of glory than he would have ever had without the fight. In that way Paul—and every follower of Christ—is more than a conqueror.

—John Piper, Don’t Waste Your Life (Wheaton: Crossway, 2003), pp. 96-97.

How the Lord Provides

I've been struck lately on how the Lord provides.
And not just how he meets our material needs--

but the spiritual ones.

The emotional ones.

When feeling spent and miles from where I'd like to be,

suddenly, there's a ram in the thicket.

And even when the ram doesn't come,
the Lamb never fails to.
He's always there--
The Lamb,
The Shepherd of our Souls, 
The Lion of Judah. 

Yes, somehow, He can be all three.
He is all three.
For us.
Physically.
Emotionally.
Spiritually.

Oh, that I would have Abraham's faith when asked--
"The Lord will provide!"
"He who has promised is faithful!"


He will provide, whether I believe it or not.
That's His nature.

It flows out of His love toward for us.

"But God demonstrates His own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

The Shepherd and Guardian of our souls will not--
adamantly refuses to be put out by our lack of faith.

"He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all,
How will He not also with Him freely give us all things?"

I do lack faith at times. I admit it.
I'm a slow learner and need to be retaught--
Over and over and over.
But, thanks be to God!
The mustard seed is growing shoots and roots these days.