You have been given a new name " The Beloved"

Yesterday was one of those Sundays where you go to church and come back wishing you could  have stayed longer, craving to hear more...

 

So on my way back home I heard the song "Ngaphiwa igama elisha: Nginguthandiwe" , which simple means, "I've been given a new name, I AM LOVED".... It was my first time hearing the song but I don't know I couldn't stop thinking so deeply how much God has loved me. I looked back in my life, I heard all the names that I have been called, some that I had given myself when I did not do my best. I remember calling myself an 'average child", because I was never good enough, I was just okey, I was never excellent, I was never the best, so that stuck with me, but it had to change, I had to change it, because I AM LOVED by God and the life of mediocre does not glorify His name.

 

Hearing this song made me remember all those people who in my position, who maybe wanted kids and did not have them, some wanted to get married, but they are still single, some to go for their tertiary education, but they never went. In all these circumstances we always come out with names, the names we give ourselves, or we get from other people.

 

I remember hearing TD Jakes saying " When you have been abused , when a person look at you with a smile, immediately you believe that they like you, and if they don't smile, then there is something wrong with you."  Most people who have suffered some form of abuse, always want approval from other people, theirself worth is never determined by themselves, but by what other people think of them....

 

I cant help but be emotional as I am typing this, because I've seen  some of the most influential people in the world still struggle with the names they were given when they were growing up, or going through a certain phase in their lives. Each and every day we want to be better, we want to close the doors  of hurt and pain that has killed our self esteem, some of us are even scared to say what they believe, because they were always labeled as stupid when they were young, some just because they looked or spoke different from other people. Our weight, or accent do not determine our level of intelligence instead when you speak that broken English because you went to a school that went for six months without an English teacher, go on, break it, it reminds you how far you have come, but don't stay in that broken English,develop yourself, make your point heard, stop fidgeting

 

So what do we do? Do we accept those names that belittle God's image we are all created in, do we cry ourselves to sleep because some teacher, classmate, or even someone you don't even know said about you, that you were not good enough...  Do we stop trying because we failed that matric? we had kids when we were kids ourselves, we were raped or even drop out of school? 

NO WE DONT... We can no longer live in the past, all we have is NOW, and the future which is filled with possibilities of who we choose to become. 

 

We all have a right to be called with this new name,  His word is so clear that "There is nothing that  can separate us from the LOVE of GOD" (Rom 8:38-39). The angels look down and ask "What is a man that you are mindful of them" (Ps8:4-8), because they can not comprehend how God could give us so much, yet we choose to belittle ourselves, we choose to believe anything that is not of a good report. We always forget how much we are loved by Him, He who is  our Jehova, our  Provider, our Healer, our Peace and our Father who specifically calls us " THE BELOVED"

 

you are loved... no matter what you are going through " He LOVES you!

 

 

with love

awami