My Joy
My older daughter has my mom to thank for her middle name. When I was expecting my first baby, I was sure I was having a boy (it was just an instinct...we hadn't found out ahead of time), and so while my husband and I picked out a girl's name, I didn't think we were going to need it and so didn't spend too much time analyzing it.
When our daughter was born, we gave her the name we'd decided on: Lydia Gabrielle. Both lovely names. It wasn't until a few days after she was born, when my mom was at our house helping me take care of her first grandbaby, that she said, "I sure wish her middle name could be Joy"—as mine is, making it a lovely reflection of Joyce, my mom's name.
One phone call to the hospital records office and a revised birth certificate later, and Lydia Joy was official. And a good thing for it, because we have often said that she is to us as her name. She is a joy.
God is our joy, and He is to us as His name.
He is our Completer...and our joy is complete in Him (Deuteronomy 16:15).
He is our Strength...and His joy is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10).
He is our Dwelling Place...and He dwells in joy (1 Chronicles 16:27).
He is our Garment...and He clothes us with joy (Psalm 30:11).
In a world where happiness is prized, I want to set my sights higher: on God, my God, who is my joy and who is to the whole world as His name.
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I'd love to hear from you! Feel free to tell me what you really think. Years ago, I explained to my then-two-year-old that my appointment with a counselor was "sort of like going to a doctor who will help me be a better mommy." Without blinking, she replied, "You'd better go every day." All of which is just to say I've spent some time in the school of brutal honesty!