meaning of a name

...you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will give. (Isaiah 62:2)

one of my favorite things about the Lord is the way that He re-names and re-makes us. yesterday, i was in a class on multiculturalism in counseling.  we were talking about names and histories and where we come from and we all shared a little bit about ourselves.  i was reminded of my new name, and now, 24 hours later, i'm still stuck in wonder at the whole thing.

my given name-- Bethany Joy-- has kind of a funny story behind it.  if you look up the Greek meaning of Bethany, mostly you'll find statements like 'house of poverty' or 'house of figs.'  not the most inspiring of meanings!  sort of depressing actually.  i think my parents knew the meaning of my name and wanted to balance the 'poverty' with something a little more positive... so 'joy' is my middle name.  at least this is the thought process they have explained to me!

but i believe that names do mean something... should mean something.  so i felt kind of stuck and sad when i realized that poverty and figs were really all that i could boast of.  it just didn't sound too special... and i so wanted it to be special.  it's good that 'joy' was a part of the equation too... or i might have despaired!

but i'll never forget the day about 5 years ago when Jesus changed my name.  i remember that it was a period of my life when Jesus was working in me like crazy... old beliefs about Him and myself were just falling apart left and right, being replaced by a powerful, fresh, new understanding and who He really is and who i am in Him.  it was a wonderful, wonderful time... probably one of the most shaping times of my entire life.

my best friend was pregnant with her first son, and i still remember one day when we were at work.  she wanted to look up baby name websites to find meanings of names for her son.  so we did... we looked up a ton of names... and then, for fun, we looked up the meaning of her name and her husband's, etc.  and then she wanted to look up my name.  i said 'no'... i already know it means poverty and figs.  not fun... i didn't want to be reminded again.  but she insisted.  so we typed 'bethany' and then... Jesus took over.  on the screen, my name appeared with a Greek meaning beside it... one that i had never seen before.

house of... life.  yes.  life.


for someone who had lived for so many years afraid of life, it was an incredibly profound and incredibly meaningful moment.  i have no doubt in my mind that on that day, Jesus re-named me.  'you're meant for life, daughter.  you're meant for joy.  don't ever forget.'  the poverty and figs were long gone.  life took over... joy took over.  i was a new girl.

but unfortunately, i think i did forget.  life isn't always easy... sometimes, circumstances sort of beat you up.  and even though you try for the life of you to hold on to everything that you know to be true, life can just feel pretty confusing sometimes.  i went through a few times like that... and in my confusion, i struggled to remember my name.  who did Jesus say i am again?  sometimes, it seemed too distant too remember.

then, this summer, He re-named me again.  a dear professor and friend traveled to Germany this summer where i was working and we got to spend a lot of time talking about the Lord.  it was an incredible blessing to me.  being a Greek scholar, he can easily trace many words back to their meaning.  and one day we started talking about my name.  and he said, 'oh bethany, your name has a really cool meaning.'  'it does??'  'oh yes, it does.'  according to him, 'beth' means 'house'... which i already knew.  but it's the second half that got me.  i learned that 'any' is actually a Greek preposition that means 'my.'  so according to my Greek friend, bethany means 'my house.'

'my' house.  His.

oh my word.  again, complete re-naming!  'daughter, in case you forgot who you are, you're mine.  i live in you... and i really like it there.  you live in me too.  you belong to me and i belong to you.'  what this means to me is that i have a place of belonging... a Someone who steps strongly into my life, picks me up, claims me and says 'you're mine.'  i have a Someone.  i'm His.  i don't mean that to sound corny... because believe me... to me, it was revolutionary.

i'm incredibly, incredibly grateful that over the past 5 years, i have moved from poverty and figs... to life to joy to being His. on this side of seeing Him face to face, i can bet i will again go through times of forgetting--'who am i again?  i can't remember!'  but i long with every part of my heart to stick close to my Creator, Savior, Redeemer... to incline my ear to hear His voice... to continue being marked and changed and re-named by what He says.


what does your name mean to you?  i'd love to know...  please feel free to comment about it here. =)