I have been going through a class called The Grace Course which is a part of the Freedom in Christ class I help lead. I have been through Freedom in Christ many times now, but a few years ago was my first time going through The Grace Course. It was and is a really great experience and I have learned a lot of things from it. One of the things we have learned is that we “shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name” Isaiah 62:2. We were encouraged to pray and ask God to reveal a specific new name for us that we could receive by faith.
The very first time I did this I sobbed like a baby when He spoke to my spirit and called me Chosen. All my life I have struggled with rejection and when He whispered that name to my heart, I cried and cried. It was so beautiful and encouraging to me that He would call me that. He spoke right to the very thing that haunted me for so long and said He calls me Chosen. No matter who has rejected me, He has chosen me. I thought it couldn’t get any better than that moment right there, my friend, but God is so loving, and kind and He has continued to add to the list over the last few years.
Before I go on, I have to explain something to you, and it will require a little more honesty and transparency than I am comfortable with. So, with a deep breath and a leap of faith, here I go. As a single woman one of the things I really, really miss sometimes is having someone to hold me. Sometimes you just wish you had someone to wrap their strong arms around you and hold you tight. Sometimes a girl just wants to be held. This desire plagues me at times and though I try to ignore it for the most part, I can’t deny that it is there occasionally.
This morning I was continuing my study through Isaiah and came to chapter forty-six. When I got to verses three and four, I had to read them twice. I’d like to share them with you my friend. “Listen to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been upheld by Me from birth, who have been carried from the womb; even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry and deliver you.” As I read those words through the second time that “still small voice” whispered to me, “You are Held.”
I literally sat there stunned for a few seconds before the tears began to fall. Now, for the second time, He had looked deep into my heart and spoke to the hurt He saw there. I honestly cannot fathom the love of a Father who cares so deeply for a simple child like me. How on earth could He love me so?! As the tears gathered in my eyes, I sat and marveled at His grace, His beautiful, overwhelming love and grace. The more I thought about it, the more tears filled my eyes. I am held by the strongest arms that exist, my friend. I am held by the very arms that hold the universe in place.
What do you say to a God that speaks to the broken, hurting parts of you and whispers the very words of healing you need to here? I think David understood a little bit about what it felt like to have God call you by the name He has for you. I think that’s why he urges us over and over throughout the Psalms to “praise the Lord” and to “shout His praises”. I think that is the only logical response to Someone that loves you that deeply. My granddaddy always had a special nickname for me, and I think that when someone who loves us gives us their name for us, it makes us feel even more loved by them.
That is how I feel when God whispers a new name to my heart. And the best thing about it is that He is calling me the opposite of what I feel. He calls me the opposite of what my feelings say I am. With all of my heart I want to be known by the names He calls me. I want to believe what He says about me. I have written the names He has given me down in several different places because I want to believe what He says about me; I want to remember what He calls me. I want His names for me to be the ones that define me; I want them to be the ones that I believe the most.
Dear heart, I don’t know what names you have been called, and I don’t know what names you believe to be true about yourself, but I have to ask a favor of you. Take some time, get alone with God, pray, and ask Him to reveal His name for you to you. Just simply ask Him to reveal to you a new name for you to cling to that reveals what He thinks of you. When He reveals it to you, choose to believe it, my friend. Choose to believe what He says about you. You may have been called a lot of different names in your life, my friend, but what He calls you is what truly matters.
Choose to believe what He says, beloved, and by faith, let that become the description of who you truly are. I can assure you that you will like what He calls you because He only thinks good thoughts about you (Psalm 139:17-18). Ask Him for your new name, my friend, so that you can be known by your true identity. You will be amazed at what He calls you. I am so excited for you, and I hope you truly do take the time to get quiet with Him and let Him speak to your heart. I pray that this will be just the first of many beautiful names to come, my friend.
*For more info on The Grace Course go to freedominchrist.com
In case you need a little help, here are just a few of the names that God calls you, and I hope you find at least one that speaks directly to your heart my beautiful friend!
Beloved, Beautiful, Chosen, Precious, Safe, Loved, Clean,
Accepted, Blameless, Bold and Confident, Equipped,
Favored, Protected, Forgiven, Planned, Known, Gifted,
Kept, Never forsaken, Royalty, Saint, Unafraid, Unashamed
Katrina Douglas
