What's In A Name?

What’s In A Name?

A lot actually.

My name is Anna Marie Carpenter.  

Anna is a Latinate variant of the French “Anne”, a cognate of the Hebrew Hannah which means “gracious”, “full of grace”.  The Biblical name of Anna refers to the Prophetess (mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 2:36-38).  

Marie, ultimately means “bitter”…  So according to my name, I’m gracefully bitter.. Yay! (Ok, there may have been a slight sense of sarcasm here.)  

Carpenter means essentially what you think it means, “worker or fixer of wood”, “builder of wood”.

I’m 31 years old.  I have had plenty of “grace” and “bitterness” in my life over the years.  Probably more bitterness than grace on some occasions (insert shocked gasp here, after all, I am a child of God and shouldn’t be talking like this!)  I could use the excuse that “I’m human”, "it happens", but that’s just that it, isn’t it?  An excuse.  

I’ve known for a pretty good while what my name means and yet, I still catch myself walking in bitterness and unforgiveness from time to time.  I very well could have chosen to walk in grace instead of bitterness but let’s face it - we don’t always want to be the first to apologize, admit we were wrong or, for heaven’s sake, forgive!  

Sometimes we have to forgive people for things that they have no clue they have done to us, so that bitterness doesn’t stand a chance at setting up camp in our lives.  I won’t go into great detail now, maybe another time, but essentially there was a person that I thought I had forgiven that I found out real quick that I hadn’t.  Who is the one that has been hurting for the last several years over what this individual said?  Certainly not them.  They probably never gave it a second thought to be honest.  That is between them and our Heavenly Father.  I prayed, again, and forgave them, again.  I don’t think it’s so much about the forgiveness part now as it is moving past the hurt that it caused.  Lord, I ask You to come and heal my heart so that even if I were to think about the situation again, the hurt won’t be there anymore.

Moving along to the meaning of Carpenter.  I could probably build something with wood if I set my mind to it, but no, it is definitely not a strong suit, lol!  Instead, I’m going to speak to the spiritual side of it.  I am a very loving, caring individual.  I get great pleasure out of serving others (worker).  I love to watch people and see what makes them tick so to speak.  Listening to others is a strong suit.  Matter of fact, I have absolute strangers sometimes disclose things to me, and afterward, they are like, “I can’t believe I just told you that, I don’t even know you”.  I love to listen to people and try to help them, give them advice or at least pray for them if I can’t come up with something spiritual to say.  No, it hasn’t always been that way.  I have liked to “fix” people in the past and rather than being spiritual, ran them off with how I think they should handle the situation and getting frustrated because, "I’m on the outside looking in, and I can see more clearly than they.”

So, what’s in a name?  As we have already stated, a lot.  Your name can very well steer the course of your life if you let it.  Good or bad.  Throughout the Word, we see many examples of this.  

Take Jacob for instance.  In Genesis 25:26 NLT we see why he is referred to as the ‘heel grabber’.  “Then the other twin was born with his hand grasping Esau’s heel.  So they named him Jacob.”  "Bruising the heel" or "grabbing by the heel" could be related. It is an attempt to interfere with another, to impede their progress or purpose, perhaps to catch up with them, ultimately perhaps to take their place or supplant.  Because of Jacob's grabbing his brother's heel, he received his name and until his character was changed he lived up to the role his action suggested.  

Genesis 32:26-28 NLT tells us of a turnaround though.  26"Then the man said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking!”  But Jacob said, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.”  27"What is your name?” the man asked.  He replied, “Jacob.”  28“Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him.  “From now on you will be called Israel, because you have fought with God and with men and have won.”  Sometimes we have to fight battles against men (ourselves) and God so to speak to get to where we need to be.  No, I’m not talking about physical battles.  The Word tells us, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh.  For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ,..”  2 Corinthians 10:3-5 NKJV

What price are you (talking to myself here, but you can apply it to your life as well if this has hit home with you) willing to pay (how much time and effort are you REALLY willing to put forth, i.e. prayer/quiet time) to “change your name”, or your character/reputation?  Do you want to be known as “graceful” or “bitter”?  If God will change Jacob’s name (character, future, legacy and so forth), He is certainly able to do the same for you and me.

I’m striving daily to be more graceful than bitter.  I’m not perfect, so I still mess up.  If you have taken the time to read this, I pray it will be a blessing to you and I pray that you would discover your God-given name (meaning purpose here) if you’re not already walking in it.  God bless and keep you always!

Anna Marie