Delores Liesner
Activating Faith in everyday life
New Life and A New Name
Today I can celebrate my name with new meanings
Do you like your name? My name, Delores, was a happenstance (carved into the door of the house into which my parents moved). And though it was better than my mother’s original plan (Fifi Fern), my name got a lot of teasing because of its meaning.
I don’t know what kid would be happy with a name that meant pain. Especially when your early life seemed to be filled with many kinds of pain. When my husband and I found Christ through reading the Bible, I began to look at my name in new ways:
If only I’d thought through and beyond that first name…
Delores – still means sorrow, but now it brings to mind the Via Dolorosa – the way of sorrows – that Christ walked to the cross.
For me.
Let’s repeat that slowly with meaning: for me. For me. For me.
This realization lifted off the specter of feeling doomed and chased by sorrows. I’d gloomed around like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, always expecting the worst. Though my life had many sorrows (some I admittedly caused myself), knowing Christ bore the pain and penalty of all my sins and sorrows lifted my heart greatly. Let’s face it, few are the people who make an effort to hang out with the Eeyores of life. More than an external change – I needed a new focus – away from myself and the symptoms of my despair to the only one who could conquer the cause.
That change? A trust that Christ would do what he said. By Faith: the origin of my middle name, Fae.
Thinking of both of my names as a whole Delores Faith or Sorrows Faith enlightened me that one comes by way of surviving the other. There is no victory without a battle.
When my heart focus changed my spiritual vision and understanding changed too. I daily discovered that God is with us in our circumstances, and He does not want our past or present circumstances to control our new life. That new life is enduring and has purpose, restoration and protection.
This God-relationship grows as I spend time listening to His Words, focusing in faith as to what He can do, rather than what I cannot.
Just think, Easter’s celebration of Christ’s resurrection and new life also brings us new life, and a new identity from our creator Daddy, was planned for each of us, long before we were even born.
Have you found yours?
What is the meaning of your name?
Be the Miracle! – with journaling pages
Delores Liesner: Author
American Christian Fiction Writers Association
Delores Liesner 