SISTAHFAITH by Marilynn Griffith

Author:Marilynn Griffith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Howard Books
Published: 2010-07-15T00:00:00+00:00

A New Name

Marilynn Griffith

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the

churches. To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden

manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written

on it, known only to him who receives it.

REVELATION 2:17 NIV

One thing that often happens along the road to the Father’s house, the path to healing from shame, is a name change. For some of my sistahs, like Claudia Mair, the new name came through new faith. For others, like Gail, new learning experiences crowned her as “Dr. Gail.” Mine was a journey from Mary to Marilynn, a trip I’m still taking.

I was born Marilynn, but I never knew that was my name until I was nineteen and went to get a birth certificate to apply for a federal job. It went something like this:

The woman at Vital Statistics peered over her glasses at me. “We don’t have anyone under Mary. All we have is Marilynn.”

“That’s impossible.” I bit my lip, trying to make sense of what she’d said.

“It’s true.” She shrugged and grabbed another file.

I wrung my hands. “But I’m alive. I’m here.”

She snorted. “Uh-huh. But who are you?”

She handed me the Marilynn birth certificate. I’d paid for it, after all. I tried to take it in. Someone else with my unusual last name? And born on the same day?

What in the world?

Like the flash of a camera, it came to me. After my mother had me, she developed an infection and had to go back into the hospital for a month. My grandmother and her affinity for double names—Donna Lee, Betty Lou, and so on—had renamed me “Mari Lynn.” The truth gripped my mind like a vise.

I’d learned to write somebody else’s name in kindergarten. It was on my high school diploma, even my social security card. I’m not sure how they got by with it, but everything in my life bore the wrong name. Still, it was the only me I knew.

I write under Marilynn because my writing is the part of me that is unknown, undiscovered, but destined from the beginning. Still, it is sometimes hard to think of myself as anything but “Mary” from round the way, though if you’re not careful, I’ll go Ngozi on you too.

I don’t get too hung up on the name thing though. In the end I’ll get a new name. A hidden manna name etched into a white stone.

My glory name.

So don’t worry if folks confuse the new you with who you used to be. God knows who you are. He sees you. He loves you. And He’s preparing a new name, one that your mother and father won’t even know. A name forged in trials and triumph, a name made for His glory.

Besides, there are always more names along the road, like Mair, Claudia’s chrismation name in the Orthodox church. She took Mary of Egypt as her patron saint. In the spirit, we now share a name. I love that.

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