What's In a Name?

I never thought alot about names until a few years ago when I was pregnant with my Possum (in case your wondering it is her blog name not a real name). I already had a beautiful little girl whom I named after her great great grandmother and her great grandmother. Possum was number 8 for granddaughters in Daddy's side of the family and I was running out of names that we could agree on. I was praying over the fact that I was expecting again and was asking God if somehow I could have the baby with out giving birth (I know, blond moment).

I was reading through Psalms when I kept running across this word in between verses. It didn't make sense, I couldn't find what it meant, and needless to say, it was driving me CRAZY! You see, I just wanted to know why it was there so often. It also happened to be the name of my favorite music group. So, I googled it. It meant to "pause and reflect" or a "musical interlude" which was it's meaning in Psalms.

I pondered this for days before I fully understood why king David would put this in the middle of His psalms. You see, if you read the book of Psalms, every emotion is poured out into his songs. Anger, fear, love, hope, faith, passion, hurts, dreams, you name it and it is there. David was a man after God's heart yet he was not afraid to share EVERY emotion he had and when there were no words to describe the pain, love, fear, praise, or emotion he was feeling he would just play his music. I love to imagine King David siting there with his harp and singing all his hurts to God and then emotions over take and there are no words so he lets the music take over and God loves him right there. God wraps his peace around David and while David plays the healing takes place. I then like to think of how many times we as christains feel the need to fill our world with words and excuses, we tell everything to God and others, but do we take the time to just stop and listen? Let the peace fill our hearts as we sit at Jesus' feet, and listen to the music He is filling our hearts with? No, we get trapped in our own little pity party and don't allow God to replace that hurt with peace.

After i researched and discovered and prayed over this name and its meaning, I started searching for what Red's name meant. Her middle name does not have a meaning, but her first means "Consecrated to God". I found this ironic since from the moment I knew I was pregnant, everyday I would pray for her and give over to God. My first name is a form of Lisa and means "Consecrated to God" as well but my middle name is what rocked my world.

It means "God is my Judge" . "Great", I thought to myself, God's gonna judge me and that's gonna be the end. Then I thought longer and started taking a Bible Study on Daniel and realized what the true translation of that meaning meant. Daniel never balked in his faith in God, no matter what was thrown at him or him into, he never faltered. All that mattered to Daniel was that he was true and faithful to God, that he lived a life which reflected his faith and that it did not matter what the world said or did as long as he was true to his faith and God. It dawned on me then, that God is my judge, not the world. No one else has the privilege to judge me. No one else has the right to make me feel as though I have done something wrong. You see, as long as I live for Jesus and seek His will and know in my heart that I am living for him, then it does not matter what stones the world tries to throw at me.

Just like Daniel, we have people who are trying to cast us to the lions or lie about us to others, or mock us for our faith. Daniel, never gave in, never defended, and never showed fear.

Needless to say, even though I knew what my name meant, I forgot until God very gently thumped me on the head this morning. I have given in to doubts caused by hateful words, defended myself to anyone who would listen, and shown fear over maybe I am the worst example of a Christian the world has seen. All the while, God has been sitting patiently and quietly with his Son waiting for me to realize that the only judge with permission to judge in this world already knows my heart and has already seen the outcome.

Wow, I really felt dumb. I'm not saying I'll never forget again, but I am sure gonna give it my all not to!

Do you know what's in your name? Do you know what it means? I am a firm believer in names and their meanings and I am very careful to choose names for my children that have meanings and stories if possible. It is no accident that my name means what it does. My heavenly Father knew that I would lack in self confidence and would be a people pleaser that stressed over every little detail that might go wrong. He also knew that i would find the strength to stand in His protection with just a little nudge from Him and others.