For His Name's Sake...Our Identity as Princesses

Last night was the second princess club for the older girls. I have to admit: I LOVE WORKING WITH THE OLDER GIRLS!!!!!!!!!! They are thoughtful, attentive, inquisitive, open, honest, fun-loving, and helpful. They share from their hearts and hold nothing back. Most of them have known each other for their whole lives, so any awkward "getting-to-know-you" stuff has long been taken care of. There do seem to be two distinct circles of friends mixed in the group, but hopefully that barrier will be broken down over the next couple of weeks.

Last night the Lord really put on my hear to talk to the ladies about their identity as it relates to their names. Most of us know that Immanuel means "God with us", but did you know Jesus means "God saves"? Even in his very name we can see the identity of Jesus. God himself has many, many names. Each one speaks of his character and manner. There are countless stories in the old testament about parents who named their children because of what the name meant, not just because it was cool sounding or inventive. Like Leah and Rachel's sons, the sons of Jacob. It was like an explosion of a thesaurus when those boys were born as their mothers picked names base don their feelings. Parents were careful in how they picked their names and names could change based on identity changes...think Abram to Abraham, Noami to Mara, Simon to Peter.

I believe our names can influence our identity and tell us a lot about ourselves. We talked about this a bit and then I shared what each of their names mean and where they come from. Here are the girls that were there last night. I share their names and what they mean so you can pray for each girl. Pray that they would recognize that ultimately their identity comes from Christ. That he has a special plan and purpose for each of them. And that he wants personal, individualized relationship with each girl.

Karen: Greek. Pure or Clear.
Karla: Spanish. Strong One
Rachel: Hebrew. Innocent Lamb (Genesis 29-48; Ruth 4:11, Matthew 2:18; Jeremiah 31:15)
Stephanie: Greek. Crown
Daniella: Hebrew. God is my judge (see: The book of Daniel)
Abigail: Hebrew. Source of joy (1 Samuel 25-30; 2 Samuel 2, 3, 17; 1 Chronicles 2-3)
Monica: Greek/Latin. Adviser/Counsellor
Ingrid: Swedish. Beauty of Froy, the Norse god of peace

Yendry (Jen): Scottish. God has been gracious
Tutis (okay, Tutis is what we call her, but I couldn't find this name anywhere...her real name is Yeremy {pronounced Jeremy} Katalina. She prefers Tutis, then Katalina, then Yeremy...Yeremy is from Jeremiah: Hebrew. Exalted of the Lord. (see: The book of Jeremiah) Katalina: Greek. Pure

And...Julie: English/French. Youthful one

Thank you for all your prayers for these girls.