I like my name. I like hearing my name (usually). And I like that my name has a silent “j”.  More than that,

I want to become my name.

[anointed follower of Yeshua-Jesus, a joy]

I don’t want to be a fake-faced happy Christian.

I don’t want to pretend or do what makes you like me.

I want to well up with authentic joy.

I want to cry and know (really know) it will be okay.

I want to laugh…more.

I want to hear (not just listen).

I want to emanate hope.

I want to perceive circumstances with eyes that see beyond circumstance.

I want to sing when it hurts.

I want to stand when I’d rather vanish.

I want to be who Father made me to be. For His kingdom. Part of His unfolding story of redemption.

…

“But now, this is what the Lord says– he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” (Isaiah 43)

Last week when this Text was read at church, I about started dancing (okay, maybe not…but you know the feeling). It says Father created Jacob & He formed Israel…can you see it??? Ahhhhh!!! Such beauty!

In the ancient Near East, names carried one’s destiny. Names brimmed with meaning and hope – like Samson (Son of Light) & Delilah (Darkness).  All of life was built around becoming your name.

Then there’s Jacob…”layer of snares”.  How depressing, huh?!…except that He was formed by Father, who redeems. He calls us by name, and He gives new names. He shifts our destiny; He reclaims our “then” and creates a new “now”. He opens wide the gate to who we are becoming.

In His Story, “Layer of Snares” doesn’t remain a cheater, he becomes “One Who Wrestles with God”.

Deceiver engages with God and is never the same. Now he limps, but he loves God enough to fight Him; to wrestle with the mystery of Three-In-One. To ask and ask and not let go until he gets a response.

And in this unexpected turn of events the people of God are birthed. Israel, Father’s chosen, receives her name. She enters The Story, and eternity will never be the same.

The Lord is one who creates and forms.

He redeems.

He calls us by name.

And He says, “You are mine.”

May we take Him at His word, and may eternity never be the same.