A few weeks ago, my team and I started talking about names and how much they mean. In scripture, the names given to people were very purposeful. In fact, God often changed peoples names because He ordained people to become what their names mean. He wanted people to be more than a name. He wanted to call them by that which they were. Which they are.
Candace: joy, light, pure and glowing.
And God makes us into what we call ourselves.
What others call us.
What He calls us.
I am a joy.
A light.
Pure.
Glowing
I still can’t get my mind completely around it, but I know its true. God, my entire life, has been molding me into a pure and joyful woman who is radiant in his presence. It’s kind of beautiful to think about.
But where our greatest strength lies, where the lord blesses us most, satan attacks us most. I have seen the reality of this play out so much lately, not only in scripture, but in my life. The last couple weeks satan has tried to destroy me by telling me I’m not who the Lord created me to be.
You see, living with 45 of your best friends is crazy.
It’s like an imperfect heaven on steroids.
We are all people that are just learning to love, desiring to know more of our Savior, and daily having to depend on His grace to get us through. We worship him from hammocks, from tents, from our worksite at Mission Of Hope, from rocking chairs, and sometimes with our faces on the ground before Him. We worship him in desperation.
We need him.
We really need him.
It’s incredible, and yet I have even seen the way satan keeps creeping his way into this brain of mine. Manipulating God’s truth and taking every opportunity he can to make me feel inadequate, rejected, and insecure even in this amazing community. It’s manifestation has come in passivity, jealousy, fear, pride and resentment. He has stolen my joy, my light and my radiance.
In fact, he gets in my head telling me I must not be good enough because I can’t lift 50 pound buckets of concrete for hours on end during ministry, and I can’t sing as pretty as others, and I can’t compare, and I can’t… and I can’t… and I can’t….
And the truth is.. who the hell cares what I can not do? Who is comparing?
God has spoken into me my true identity. I do not have to believe lies. I know who I am. Okay, well I’m daily getting on my face before the lord and praying to find our more of who I am. But I know that everything from God is perfect, it is beautiful and it is satisfying.
I can’t give power lies.
God knows my name. He knows me. He knows that I lost precisely 12 hairs on my head in the shower. He knows that with our words we give life and with our words we can destroy. We all have that power.
It’s my prayer, for you and I, that the lord may create us into people who walk in the fullness of our name. It’s my desire that by His grace He may save us from every lie, every insecurity, every temptation, and every evil.
Jesus
It is the name that makes it all worth it.
