What's in a name........

Today was actually warm!  The sun was shining and the snow was melting.  I went out without my big heavy winter jacket.  Wow!  And I managed to get many errands run before noon.  Grocery shopping done and put away.  Gas purchased, car washed (and it was seriously needed..so much road salt) and I even got my hair cut.  I had an interesting conversation about my name with the gal who cut my hair.  And then this showed up on my Facebook feed.

I immediately thought about my name, once again.  My full name is Lynnette which means (in some sources) a small flowing brook.   And the verse associated with my name is John  7:38 

 "Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them."

But here is the really interesting thing.  Tonight when I looked up the meaning of my name, I found one place that said the meaning was "little lion"!  Well, if Jesus if the Lion of Judah, I guess it would be a very good thing to be a little lion!  

This is me and my mom, in the hospital when I was born.  When she gave me the name Lynnette it had nothing to do with the meaning of the name, or the verse that was associated with that name.  She actually wanted my name to be Annette (a nod to my mom's aunt Anna) but my dad wanted the name Linnay.  My mom also liked the name Linda so they sort of just compromised and I became Lynnette Rae.  But, we all know that God has a hand in our names.  And I know that this is the perfect name for me.  

After I really committed to Jesus as my Lord and Savior, I knew that the verse from John was my life verse.  I had a powerful experience with Jesus and heard him speak those words to me.  And, since that day in 1988, I have had that exact verse spoken to me over and over again.  As a matter of fact, there have been times that someone has just walked up to me and prayed that verse for me.  Today when I saw the idea in that first picture, that as Jesus fills me up, (and that river flows out of me) then I will be affecting the land around me, it added another layer to that river verse.  It is one thing to think about the living water flowing out, but to take it further and think about POSSESSING everywhere that the river flows........WOW!  

So here is what happened today at my hair cut.  Eileen,  the stylist, asked me if I liked the name Lyn.  This is a really interesting question that you don't normally hear during a hair cut.  My first thought was to wonder why she would ask that question.  I told her that my full name was Lynnette and yes, I liked my name.  She said that she hated her name and was thinking of changing it.  So she has been asking every client about their names and is trying to come up with a better name.  I asked what her parents thought about her changing her name.  She just told me that she does not have any relationship with them at all.  I was praying for the right words to share with her and decided to just share my name story.  When I told her that God knows our names and that often we discover the truth of the "fit" of our names in unusual ways.  I asked if she believed in Jesus and she said, "not really".  So I simply told her that I would be praying that she would have confirmation that she has the perfect name and that she would hear Jesus speaking to her.   Tonight I discovered that Eileen means beautiful bird.  So please join me in praying that this sweet young girl discovers why she has this wonderful name......and that she discovers Jesus in the process.

Jesus, reach out right now and touch Eileen.  Holy Spirit, draw her to Jesus and settle her spirit about her name.  Jesus thank you for speaking to me and giving me revelation about my name.  Thank you for these chance encounters that remind us that you have called us to share the good news.  Thank you for sunshine and warm weather and thank you for my name.  Amen

A short life with a long Spiritual heritage....

 

On this really "normal" Saturday I've just been reflecting on my week.  I went back to last Saturday. and finding out that my new expected grandchild is a girl!  I am sure right now that you are wondering why the very grainy, bad picture above is even on this page.  So, here is the story of how Jesus spoke the name of this new precious little one.  Gwen and Tim had always planned on having four children.  As a matter of fact, Gwen had always announced that she would have "two girls, a boy and a girl" when she grew up.  It seems like somewhat of a stretch to imagine that a little child would know the make up of their future family.  But, in Gwen's case, it seems to have worked out.  Each of Gwen's children has a very special and meaningful name.  Names are extremely important to Gwen and Tim and they spent a great deal of time making the decision on the names of each of their children.   Lia - Aurelia Nora.  Nora was my Grandmother (my mom's mom that she never knew).  Ellie - Elliana Lyn Louise.  Ellie's middle names are for me and her other grandma.  Zeke - Ezekiel Timothy.  Timothy is for his father, and how he got the name Ezekiel is a LONG story for a later blog.  Earlier this spring Gwen told me that she and Tim had settled on a girls name, in the event that she actually had a girl for their fourth child.  The name is Annaleigh.  They would call her Anna.  Now our family tree is loaded with the name Anna.  It is certainly a family name.  But Gwen said that they could not come up with a middle name that made sense.  Then on May 17, 2013 - before Gwen even knew that she was pregnant, I had a dream.

 

I know that I have said those words more than one time on this blog.  But I frequently have dreams that contain a message or a word from Jesus.  The dream that night was very brief, but when I woke up I knew that there was a message in it!  I saw Gwen, very pregnant and she was standing holding a large photo in a frame.  The frame was facing towards me.  Gwen was smiling and the picture in the frame was the picture above.  While I was wondering exactly what the meaning was of this odd dream, I was thinking just that Gwen would indeed get pregnant and have a third girl.  Then when I arrived home, I went up to my scrapbook room and dug around until I actually found that photo.  And I stared at the names Ellen, Nora and Louise.  And then I knew that Ellen was the chosen middle name for Annaleigh.  Lia is Nora, Ellie is Louise and Anna would be Ellen.  WOW!  This is particularly interesting because Ellie's middle name is, in fact, after Tim's mother. Yet, she has the name Louise!  Isn't Jesus so amazing?  He can make sure that HE chooses our names and seems to work it all out!  So I texted Gwen that I thought I knew what Annaleigh's middle name was!  She wasn't even surprised when I told her the dream and the story. So I am anxious to meet Annaleigh Ellen.  Her name means Gracious Field & Light!   But I will be waiting until the end of January/early February to meet her! 

 

Over the last few years, I have been reminded over and over that there is a purpose for looking carefully at my ancestors. There is a spiritual heritage that has been sown into our generations and the seeds come forth in our life in many, many ways.  For me, my grandchildren are expressing the growth of branches of our spiritual family tree.  As I was looking at the picture tonight, I came across a letter that belonged to my mom.  It was written to her by her Aunt Effie.  Effie is the sister of Nora, Louise, and Ellen.  When I was in high school I begged my mom to write to her aunt to find out more about her mother.  For some reason she had never considered doing that.  So, she wrote the letter and we waited.  Finally we received a LONG and detailed letter that was actually written down by one of Effie's daughters.  By the time this was written, Effie was in her 80's and physically not well.  She actually died a year later.  But the information that she shared in that letter, has blessed my family in amazing ways.  I really believe that Lia has the middle name Nora partially because of that letter.  Effie gave us insights into who Nora was.  She was well liked, active in church and had a love at first sight experience with my grandfather.  She had an incredible soprano voice that was so powerful it could be heard several miles away (when she was singing in church on warm nights, with the doors of the church open). She chose to marry a man who was outside of the expected!  He was German and she was Norwegian.  As a matter of fact, when she met my grandfather's family, they spoke only German and she spoke only Norwegian!  What courage and strength she had.  She was very musical and played the piano and organ.  She cared so much for her family, that when her own mother died (when her sister Effie was only 9 years old), she brought Effie home and treated her as a daughter.  Effie told my mom in this letter, how much she was like her mother, Nora.  I remember that my mom said she had never heard that before.  Effie said that my mom looked very much like her mother.  As Gwen grew up, I began to see how much she was like me and my mom.  And really so much like Nora.  Anyone who has heard Gwen sing knows that she does NOT need a microphone to be heard! And she has so many of those same character traits that Nora had.  What a blessing that she used Nora's name.  Even though Nora's life was short, Jesus has used mightily, the deep spiritual heritage she sowed into her family. While she only lived 32 years, her impact on her generations continues on. 

 

Jesus, thank you for family.  Holy Spirit, it is amazing how you show us what is really important in our life.  I love how you remind us to look beyond our present circumstances and see things from your perspective.  Thank you for using this special dream to weave our new little granddaughter into the fabric of our family.  Father, you planned for families when you planned creation.  How wonderful and wise you are.  Help us all to see our generations as beautiful growing organisms.  And remind us that who we are and what we do, has an eternal impact. Thank you Jesus!  Amen