What's Naming You?
by Joy Scott
One of the greatest joys of being a mother is naming your child. There is massive power entrusted to us by our Creator when we name that little one we hold in our arms. Countless times we will call that name...as they crawl across the floor...as they learn to ride their bike...as they walk down the aisle.
We often think about naming things but what is naming us? We all carry a name given to us by our own parents. We may carry the name betrothed to us as we stood at the wedding altar. But we also carry other names - mommy, sis, wife. Yet there are other names that can tag us along the road of life if we are not careful - wounded, useless, bitter, tired, andpained. Pain, what a name!
Perhaps you found yourself wading through the ashes of a relationship that went up in flames. Maybe you have shaken your fists at God more than once indicting Him for allowing the pain of abuse to mark your childhood. Or, life just has not turned out as you imagined and you are just plain angry. Pain wants to sink into the very fiber of your being and permeate the deepest, darkest places of your soul. Pain would try to name you.
Pain has stormed the stage of my life multiple times. First, in the form of an abusive, controlling marriage. Then, not a decade later, in the form of a casket lowering my four-year-old son to his grave after a fierce battle with brain cancer.
Pain tried to name me. Ugly. Unwanted. Rejected. Forgotten.
You and I have a choice. We can let our pain or our healing name us.
Pain is inevitable. Jesus makes that clear to us in John 16:33: "I have told you these things, that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble, but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world." The question is not whether we will encounter pain; it's part of the world we live in. The question is whether we will allow pain or our healing to name us.
That inner voice on the inside of you - what are you going to allow it to say to you? "You're a mess!" or "You're a masterpiece!" "You're a piece of junk!" or "You're worth more than gold."
Eventually, you will come to the place where either your pain or your healing will define you. God gives us time to grieve, mourn, and process our pain. Yet at some point, we will have to make a decision; grovel in our pain or heal.The fruit of a life marked by pain is anger, bitterness, mistrust, fear, self-protection, insecurity, and hesitation. The fruit of a healed heart is love, hope, strength to help others, and freedom. God wrote to His love, the Hebrew people, and He writes to you today in Isaiah 62:4: "Never again will you be called 'The Forsaken City' or 'The Desolate Land.' Your new name will be 'The City of God's Delight' and 'The Bride of God,' for the LORD delights in you and will claim you as his bride."
We will all experience loss and pain in this life. My question to you today is: What will name you - your pain or your healing? Allow God to give you His new name for you.
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Joy Scott is an inspiring and authentic author, certified teacher, and passionate speaker. But her greatest joy is found in being a loving - and patient - wife to her energetic husband, Jonathan, and devoted mom to her lively boys. Together Joy and Jon began Joseph's Joy, (www.josephsjoy.org), a non-profit organization designed to offer hope and help to children and their families battling life-threatening illnesses locally and around the world.
You can get your copy of Joy's book, Joseph's Joy: Living With Unstoppable Hope on www.amazon.com. To book Joy for a speaking event inquire at www.joyscott.me.