I used to hate my name. When I was a little girl, I wished my name were Jessica. Why? Because it was popular, and I hated being different. As I grew older, I learned to not only tolerate my name but love it. I love being different; I love being unique.

Maybe you have a unique name and love it; maybe you hate it. Maybe you have a common name, and you wish for something more original. Did you know God has a unique name for each and every one of us?

In Revelations 2:17, Christians are promised a new name as a reward for persevering faithfulness.

This got me thinking. What would God name me? My belief is that God will name us after our character.

Who were you before the world told you who you were? This is a question I hope anyone reading this would ask themself today.

Weak, too sensitive, OCD, perfectionist, crazy, worthless—-just a few “names” I have been given over the years.

The truth is though, those names do not define me, and they never did. Those names were given to me by man, never by God.

If I had answered to the name weak, I never would have graduated from one of the most difficult nursing schools in my state. If I had believed I was OCD or crazy, I may have gone on to develop a mental illness. If I had adopted the name worthless, I may have never developed the relationship I have with God and certainly never would have started a blog with the confidence to know the power of my own voice.

My prayer is that you will ask God to silence any and every voice in your head that is not from the Father, the Son, or the Holy Spirit. That you will stop adopting names others call you and start focusing on what God would call you. I pray that we would use names to lift one another up instead of tearing each other down, reminding one another who God is and what He says about us in His Word.

I don’t know exactly what God will call you in Heaven, but what I do know is this: in this world, you are beautiful; you are worthy; you are precious; and you are loved.