Last Saturday morning I took a trip to the nail salon. Deciding to treat myself to both a manicure and a pedicure, I chose a bright pink color for my toes. But I was unsure as to what color polish to put on my fingernails. Finally, I glanced to my right at the woman’s hands next to me. Her technician was finishing her nails and they looked so pretty… soft, white nails with just a hint of pink. “I want that color,” I said to my technician, Gon, as I gestured towards my neighbor’s almost-dry nails. As he began the process of prepping my nails, I asked him the name of the polish color. “Funny Bunny,” he replied.
Funny Bunny. That name holds special meaning for me. Several years ago, as a newlywed in Tucson, Arizona, I took a RN job at a community mental health outpatient clinic. I was the team nurse for a group of mental health professionals who oversaw the care of almost 250 severely and persistently mentally ill individuals living in Tucson. I loved that job. You know those disheveled people you pass on the street of a big city? The ones who are speaking out loud to no one in particular? The ones that people walk around with a wide berth because they don’t look or act like everyone else? The ones the collective “we” assume are probably dangerous? Well, I knew their names, and they knew mine.
The first time the Music Man and I were approached downtown by one of my patients, who ran up to me from across the street while smiling and yelling “Nurse Lori! Nurse Lori!” before hugging me tightly, I thought the Music Man would faint. One of my patients, I’ll call him Billy, loved to sing. If he was singing, I knew he was OK. When the singing stopped, our team knew it was time for him to be hospitalized.
I took care of one very challenging patient during this season of my career. This young man had been diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was attached to reality by a very fragile thread. Delusions and psychosis were his baseline, and his bizarre appearance, behavior and communication style made living in the community a challenge for him. This young man had a real, legal name. But when he would call me on the phone and I would ask who was calling, the name he would respond with was Funny Bunny. The voices in his head would lie to him about his name, and he would believe the voices instead of what he knew to be true.
I never called him by the name, Funny Bunny. I called him by his real name, and he would either ignore my efforts to ground him in reality, or he would smile. He was a guitar player and spoke of being famous. (I eventually learned he really was famous in Europe. But that is a story for another time.) Once, after scraping some money together, he recorded one of his original songs and had a small number of 45-speed records pressed for him to distribute. He sold me one for $1.00. As I was reading his thank you’s on the cheap, paper record cover, I noticed my name, “Nurse Lori”, sandwiched between thank you’s to his psychiatrist’s, Prolixin (one of his anti-psychotic medications) and Paul McCartney. 😊
Sometimes I am like this young man. I have listened to the voices of life and believed the names that these voices scream in my direction. When my dad died, the only parent I had, because of my mom’s dementia, who knew my name, the voices told me my name was “Orphan”. When struggling with anxiety during the Music Man’s illness, the voices told me my name was “Weak”. When feeling like I was failing to adequately juggle work, parenting and marriage successfully, the voices told me my name was “Failure.”
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine.”
Isaiah 43:1b (NIV)
Over the last several months, I have begun to seek to understand the names that God calls me. I want to tether myself tightly to that reality, not the lying, negative voices of life that can scream other names in my direction. Isaiah 43:1b says, “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name. You are mine.” In the bible, it is revealed repeatedly that your name casts the vision for your life.
Some of the names God calls me (and you) are:
- Sons and daughters
- Beloved
- Chosen
- Friend
- Precious
- Honored
- Bride
- Dearest One
- Masterpiece
It doesn’t matter what name you have gone by in the past. Or what lies you have believed in the past about who you are. God’s names for us supersede them all. Sometimes God even changes our name. You can be sure of one thing. When God changes your name, He changes your destiny. Consider these examples of some of the individuals in the bible who received a new name from God.
- Abram, his name meant (“father”) became Abraham (“father of many”). Well past the age of child-bearing, as was his wife, God told Abraham that his wife would conceive a child. In Genesis 26 God promises Abraham that his “descendants would be as numerous at the stars in the sky”. That’s quite a promise for a couple who struggled with infertility their entire marriage. *NIV version
- Sarai (her name meant “argumentative”) was Abraham’s wife. God changed her name to Sarah (which means “princess”). She became the son of Isaac after growing old believing she would never be a mother.
- Jacob (his name meant “deceiver”), in the ultimate do-over, became Israel (“One who struggles with God and man and overcomes”). God prized this name and the man He gave the name to so much that Israel became the name of not just a person, but also a people and a nation! What a perfect example of the transforming power of God when He gives us a new name.
- Simon (his name meant “He has heard”) was an impetuous coward. Prior to Jesus’ crucifixion and in fear for his own life, he denied three times even knowing Jesus. Jesus renamed him Peter, explaining upon this (Rock), He would build His church. Peter died by crucifixion, too. But he was crucified upside down at his request because he did not feel worthy to die the exact same way that Jesus did.
Four different individuals. Four new names. Four redemptive stories.
Ask yourself these questions. Are my inner thoughts and outward actions in line with who God says I am? Do I live each day in freedom because of who I am and whose I am? Understanding our name and identity, our true identity, will radically change how we see ourselves and how we live.
What voices are you listening to? I hope you take the time to ponder the names that God has assigned to you. His name(s) will perfectly describe who you really are. Stop listening to the other voices. Walk in freedom, shoulders back, head held high, sons and daughters of the King.
What’s your name?