God spends a lot of time in the Bible
Telling us who we are
It's almost as if He knew that we would doubt
Who that was from time to time
It's as if He saw it coming
That we'd spend our whole lives searching
For what our identity
What our real name was
And that there'd be many moments in our lives
Where we'd let different kinds of names define us
When we've looked in the mirror
Compared ourselves to pictures
And heard the name, Ugly
When we've been left by loved ones
People we trusted once
And heard the name, Unworthy
When we've been drowning in discouragement
Living in a seemingly never-ending crisis
And heard the name, Forgotten
When we've had our hopes up and our hearts open
Only to be brought down by closed doors
And we've heard, Rejected
When we've looked for infinite, affirming love
Through lesser, physical, fleshly versions
When we gave it away or when it was stolen
And we heard, Impure, we heard, Garbage
When we go to other vices to ease our pain
And we hear, Addict, we hear, Forever Broken
When we feel like we're living in the shadow of someone else's calling
And we hear, Second Place
When our pain cripples us to a point where we don't even know how to let others in
And we hear, Lonely
When our past seems too gross for others to forgive
And we hear, Disgusting
It's overwhelming
These voices we're constantly hearing
It's suffocating
This air of constant critique and comparing
And it's sort of amazing
The people whose voices I've allowed to name me
The power I've given to my past, to my mirror, and to my surroundings
And enabled them to identify me
The amount of years I've spent living up to whatever others say about me
But God says something else about me
It's like He knew there would be other voices
So He wrote His voice down in a timeless
Book of Truths that would remind us
Over and over again
In the moments when lies would block His truths
And somehow make us forget
So I'm going back to the Source
Not the people I've allowed to represent God to me
But the actual, literal, tangible words that He has written down for me
And there's some other names He's given to me
John 15:15
He calls me, Friend
1 Thessalonians 1:4
He calls me, Chosen
Ephesians 2:10
He calls me, His Masterpiece
He calls me His art, He calls me hand-made
He calls me purposed and fashioned for good things
1 Corinthians 6:19
He calls my body, A Temple
He calls it the residence of the Holy Spirit
Acts 1:8
He calls me, His Messenger to the World
Galatians 3:26
He calls me, His Child
Romans 5:8
He calls me, Greatly Loved
John 8:36
He calls me, Free, Free Indeed
2 Corinthians 5:17
He calls me, Brand New
And it's amazing how different these names are from the names I'm used to listening to
And in my journey to discover who I really am
In my battle to uncover the truths of myself
I've learned something new about my name, and now this is what I am certain of
My name is not the name the world calls me
My name is not the name my past calls me
My name is not even the name my own mirror calls me
But my name
My name is the name I choose to answer to
And I can choose today
From this moment forward
To answer to a new name
When I hear, Lonely
That's not me
When I hear, Disgusting
That's not me
When I hear, Unworthy
I don't even look over my shoulder
When I hear, Broken
They must have confused me
Please, look elsewhere
When I hear, Ugly, Abandoned, Useless, Forgotten
I figure someone just has to remind them
Maybe those were my old names
But they're no longer the names that I will respond to
My name is the name I have chosen to spend my days living up to
And if these other voices
Are not saying the same thing
That the Truth is
I look in my mirror and I repeat this
They have no right to be speaking to you
When you stop answering to all your old names
They stop having power over you
The names that my Father
Eternity's Author
The world's Creator
Has called me
Are the only names that I answer to
When I hear, Friend of God
That's my name
Chosen
That's my name
Loved, Wanted, Created with a Purpose
That's my name
God's Messenger
That's my name
God's Masterpiece
That's my name
Child of God
You must be looking for me
Greatly Loved
You must be calling for me
Brand New
That is my name, so that is a name that will I respond to
The Enemy has no power here
Perfect Love casts out all fear
And Perfect Love has named me and you
So what is your new name
What is stirring up inside of you
When you hear these words, that His Word
That the Word has proclaimed
What do you know is the name God is calling you
Maybe it's not the name you grew up with
Maybe it's not the name your old friends associate you with
Maybe it's not the name that your whole life you were used to identifying with
But it's the name you now answer to
So when the Enemy tries to get to you
It's just the name you introduce yourself with
As for me, my name is Forgiven, my name is Free, my name is Brand New
Loved, Wanted, Child of God, Created with a Purpose
And it's been a pleasure to meet you