What’s your name?

In 1997 our first son came into the world. Nine pounds, one ounce and gigantic feet. Shortly after I gave birth two nurses came into my room hysterical. I wondered what was so amusing and they said “Mrs. Miller, we had a difficult time getting your sons feet on the card.” I’m not sure if they still do this today but new parents received a card with a stamp of their child’s feet. After the birth of ours, they ordered larger cards.

I believe without a shadow of a doubt that God gives us our name. We went to the hospital confident of the name of our first son. “Tanner”…The minute he was born I told my husband I had a strong feeling we needed to change his name. His name was to be Nathaniel. That name had never crossed our minds or lips. My husband overwhelmingly agreed. We needed to change his name. We had no idea what the name meant until weeks later. A friend of mine said she had felt his name was perfect. It means “Gift of God.” Still gives me chills when I think about it.

We had lost a daughter only a year before. God gave us an incredible “gift.” Not only that, we had two more children. My pregnancies were anything but easy and I was always “high risk” but they were born healthy! Nicolas (meaning “victory”) and Noah (meaning “rest and repose”)

The joy we felt when our first son was born is unexplainable. Just one year before I was in the same hospital giving birth to our stillborn daughter Sarah Rachel (name meaning, “princess”.) We knew Sarah was most likely going to either be born with significant problems or pass away. We lost her on a July 2, 1996 and Nathaniel (our first son) was born on our wedding anniversary, July 16, 1997. I should include the fact the doctors told us there is a very good chance we would not be able to have a healthy child after the birth of Sarah.

After gaining a better understanding of the significance of his name, I looked up my own…

Lisa

“Devoted to God.” My parents raised me to love God. Ultimately though, everyone has the freedom to choose. I can’t remember a day where I didn’t feel God’s presence in my life. It was only when I turned eighteen I entered into a relationship with Him. Through every trial and every victory, He has always been there. My mom and dad had no idea what my name meaning was. After experiencing the sudden name change of our first born along with some periodicals here are my thoughts…

I believe God gives us our name and our identity. Once we embrace who we are in Him, we fully understand the fact He has an awesome, (not easy) uniquely designed mission for each one of us.

Additional thoughts for today…

1) Our identity comes from God alone. The world can’t define who He created us to be. He gave us our name.

2) Every one of us has a unique fingerprint. That might be how the world identifies us. However, our fingerprint is God’s design. The Master Creator.

3) Choose Joy EVERYDAY!