When you need a new name

In the coffee-scented atmosphere, I sit, mug in hand, leaning in over words, ancient, penned slow by the prophet of old.  "You will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow."

I stop; quiet, listening.  Names...

Photo Credits:  Bryan Chris Photography

I think of the name I'd held so long, clinging ragged, gripping hard with both hands.  This is who I am, this awful name that chains me tight...

And I think of the whisper that came one day:  "That's not who you are.  You're not That Girl anymore.  This is who you really are."  And lovingly, He speaks it, truth medicine into the place of the lie.  "Daughter of Joy, Shiner of Light, Girl of Courage."  Oh, these names!

Identities, names, the labels I've taken, shaping me, defining me.  It was time to be done with those old things.  For in Him, all is new.  The old is gone, the new has come, and it starts with my name.  And on this quiet summer morning, He reminds me again.

"No longer." It's the prophet, speaking again. "No longer will they call you Deserted or name your land Desolate."  No longer.  No more.  Not Overlooked.  Not Fearful.  Not Anxious.  Not Angry.

"But you will be called Hephzibah and your land Beulah, for the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married."

Hephzibah, "My delight is in her."  Beulah, "married."  Oh, my.

"As a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you."  

I smile, heart cracking wide, and breathe.  I have a new name.  It's Hephzibah Beulah.  "My delight is in her; (she is) married (to Me)."

New identity.  New me.  New name, bestowed by the mouth of the Lord.

And His name is Father.


Oh, you dear readers who, too, need truth medicine.  Need to know your name, to know who you really are.  Ask Him, won't you, to speak your own new name straight into the place of the lie?  He loves to do this, and He's got one just for you.