Your Name

For so long, I despised my name - Erica.

My parents were hoping for a boy and planned on naming him Eric - perhaps to reflect our Norwegian heritage. 

So when a bright-eyed ginger girl appeared, they scrambled and said, "Eric...uhhhhh ... how about Erica?"   

My family thought that was a funny story. 

Me? Not so much. 

When they shared that story, they planted a terrible seed within me of feeling unwanted that grew as the years progressed.

I began to believe that I was more of a disappointment they had to make do with rather than a child they longed for and cherished.

As I grew up, I looked around my tiny world and desperately wanted to have another name, another identity.

I looked at my friends with beautiful, common names whose lives seemed perfect, and I longed to be them.

I tried to run from my identity, tried to hide and morph into someone else. 

My name - Erica - didn't mean anything special to me.

Until.

I imagined God saying it.

I pictured Him right before me with His hands on my shoulders, pouring love into my soul with His loving eyes staring right into mine.

God made me, and He knows my name.

Nowhere on this earth is there another like me. 

When God says my name—Erica—I feel so deeply and profoundly loved. 

I now look at my name as a badge of honor.

I am God's child. He made me. He loves me. He wants me. 

Can you imagine that? Can you imagine God standing before you, His hands resting on your shoulder, pouring love into you as His eyes lock with yours?

Can you hear Him whisper your name?

It is the most beautiful sound!

God made you and He knows your name.

Nowhere on this earth is there another like you. 

When God says your name—________— you will feel so deeply and profoundly loved. 

With that love, you can wear your name as a badge of honor.

You are God's child. He made you. He loves you. He wants you.

God has found you, and He is never, EVER going to let you go.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Jeremiah 1:5

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument],And before you were born I consecrated you [to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations.

1 Peter 2:9

But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.