Names are a very important thing. Through them, we derive our identity. We respond to the names we recognize and claim as our own identities. What people call us can affect the way we feel and even see ourselves. Truly, the power of our words can be a beautiful and a scary thing. When we learn to listen to the Lord, we begin to hear the names and words HE says to us and about us. And He is a good Father, so you can rest assured that what He says about you will uplift you and bring you into an even deeper understanding of Him and YOURSELF!
God once showed me that as we truly seek Him and chase after Him with our whole hearts, He doesn’t just reveal Himself to us. He reveals OURSELVES to us.
The moment we landed in Africa, we were called by a VARIETY of colorful names. The most common of these names is “muzungu.” This word basically means “white person,” and we have been assured by several of the people here that this is not used or meant as an insult. However, it seems to be used as a signal as well. People in the market will use this word to let their friends and fellow shop owners know that they need to increase the prices on all of their goods. Funny how that happens, huh?
But some of the names we received were also really sweet and deeply meaningful.
This month, I got to help out in a few general wellness clinics hosted by out host church. A nurse had recently started attending their church, so these were the first two clinics the church ever got to host. And we got to participate! How awesome! Because of my background in nursing, I was actually asked to give people advice based on their blood pressures and BMI. Now if you are a medical professional, you know that this can be helpful but is also not that much information to go off of. Giving advice seems a bit intimidating. However, I ended up being surprised by how much medical knowledge was coming back to me.
I didn’t want to belittle myself, but I felt that I wasn’t qualified for this job. After all, I’m “just a nurse” (that wording kind of makes me cringe to say, but I don’t know how else to say it). But these people didn’t see me that way. They saw me as “doctor.”
Let me pause here. I am not a doctor even in the slightest. In the states, many nurses will strongly defend their own license and tell you just how much “not a doctor” we are. Nurses and doctors work together, but they do very different things. It upsets me a little when people call me a doctor in the United States because it makes me feel like they don’t know what I do as a nurse. “My job is unique and important in a different way. I have gone through a different kind of training,” I try to say.
This community was different. Some of these people haven’t been to the doctor or a clinic in decades. Some of them don’t understand the concept of weight loss or are even aware of diabetes. They don’t understand the difference between a doctor and a nurse and to them, it doesn’t matter. They called me “doctor” not knowing any better, and I felt honored that they were coming to me, trusting me for advice.
Another name they called me started off as a joke, but it was probably the most meaningful nicknames I received in Rwanda. When we were doing manual labor, one of the men joked and asked, “Andrew, are you Jesus?” Apparently the shaggy curls and unkept beard was what Jesus looked like to him. I responded. “I’m TRYING to be!” It became a kind of joke from there. But “Dr. Jesus Muzungu” has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
I was so encouraged! I am always trying to look more and more like Jesus (of course, more in a spiritual sense). And you know what I believe the Lord told me? As I continue to seek Him out, I will begin to resemble Him more and more. We look like Jesus— we were made in His image and carry the family resemblance everywhere we go. Lord, help me continue to reflect you to the world around me!
In all things, be blessed!
AG
