In a conversation with a young woman today, in the space of about 3 minutes, she referred to herself as klutzy, clumsy, a bull in a china closet (her mom's name for her), and a total klutz. My heart broke.
As we continued to talk, I listened and prayed quietly. I waited and heard her sweet voice talk about this and that and saw that the way she sees herself is not how God sees her. She talked about her fiancé and getting married in October. She talked about growing up in Houston and about the back pain she deals with on a daily basis. My heart grew for her.
As she was cutting my hair, an old story came to mind. I asked her if I could tell her a story and she said yes.
Here's the story.
Years ago, when our daughter was around 4 years old, we had a nickname for her. It was Miss Messy. You see, every time she ate spaghetti, her absolute favorite food of all, she wore it every where...on her face, in her hair, on her clothes, and all around the area where she sat. The shower and the bath was the only way to get her cleaned up.
One day while praying for her, I really was laying this out to the Lord. Then it came to me...the name we called her is what she became. That night, I served spaghetti on purpose. Before she took her first bite, I praised her for being a big girl who now could eat like mommy and daddy did. As you can guess, most of the food ended up where it was supposed to be.
I next realized that I had been also calling her "Miss Messy" in regards to her room. I looked around and found the neatest spot in her room...her elephant collection. I called her in to her room and praised her for being so organized. We never called her Miss Messy again.
I looked at Krysten and she had tears in her eyes. She said, "thank you. I never realized I was giving myself a name I didn't want. Clumsy Krysten is no longer my name. "
I hope some day I can have the opportunity to share Jesus with her and tell her about her other and very amazing name...Beloved Daughter of God! #GodEncounters #JesusIsHisName
No comments:
Post a Comment