New Names!!

Today was the first day the campers came! It was very exciting to be able to use all the hard work we have done in training the past two weeks. It seems like a lot of the work has played out greatly. They are a small group so we are getting to get to know them personally. I remembered them from last year so it's cool to see how they have grown. They all remembered my nickname.. Buzz. At Waukaway we have to use nicknames all summer so the camper will not know our real name. I got the name buzz from getting bit by so many horse flies last year. ha! They all decided to give themselves nicknames this year. The talk of the day was names and who was who. They all wanted to know each staff members nickname and how they got that name. They try really hard to guess our real names as well :) Sometimes, like today, one of the staff will slip up and say our real name ha. But I even got a new nickname today.. Mama Buzz haha! (Not sure where the Mama come from, i guess i just look like a mom ha!) I hope that's a good thing...

I started thinking about names and how we make such a big deal out of them sometimes. It seems like it's the first thing people ask when they come up to you. I was talking to the Lord and thinking about all the names He has. He is Jehovah Rapha and Jehovah Nissi and Jehovah Shalom. They are beautiful names that define who He is. In the Old Testment, I love when it says.. "The Lord Almighty is His name". I love how He calls Himself the "I am". He is the name about all names. He uses names to define people. He even changed Abram to Abraham to declare He would be the father of many nations. Even when Abraham had no sons, God called things that were not, as though they were. Through his name, God was infusing faith into Abraham to see who he was in Jesus' eyes.

I found a verse about the new name He has given me. This verse has captivated me so much to know what the Lord says is my name. This is who He says I am... "You shall no longer be termed forsaken, nor shall your land be called desolate any more. But you shall be called Hephzibah [My delight is in her] and your land shall be called Beulah [Married], for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married [owned and protected by the Lord]." - Isaiah 62:4

I love that He sings new songs over us and gives us new names! We don't have to be labeled by our former ways. He changes our name and declares what He thinks about us. I am Hephzibah because He delights in me. As we declare these names, it becomes who we are! I love to know what He thinks.

 Im looking forward to a packed week, ready to be in a dry and thirsty place, and desperate for more of Jesus as He calls me deeper.