What's in a name?

I was reading today about Isaiah's sons and how their names meant something in regards to his prophesy to the nation. As I thought about that, I had to laugh. Pete and I deliberately named our boys with the meaning of their names in mind.

Joseph is our first born, and his name is Joseph Aidan. Joseph means, “The Lord shall add,” and Aidan, we thought, meant, “warmth to the home." As I’ve been looking it up, I’ve come to find out that Aidan means, “a little fire." So his name means, “The Lord shall add a little fire!"

I had to laugh when I figured this out because in my mind his name was suppose to be a picture of a nice quiet little fellow, and our family would be one of those little Kodak moment pictures. Haha! God has great sense of humor!

Well, my little Joe is not quiet nor is he the little bit of warmth I thought I was getting! Haha! Instead, he IS my little FIRE! You know why this is so significant to me. It’s because as much as I would complain to God about him being too loud or too hard headed or too boisterous, the one thing that I realized was that he was what I needed in my life. Just as fire is put to gold or silver to refine it, so is fire applied to our lives to bring up the things in our lives that don’t look like Jesus.

God uses our children to turn the fire up and what comes to the surface of our lives is often in need of some refining from the Master Himself. I would often ask God why Joseph was not the quiet little fellow I imagined him to be, and God has told me, it’s because there were and still are some things in “Wendy” that needs a little Joseph to help her be more like Jesus.

So, I’m trying now, on the days when I find myself losing my temper and being short with him or not having patience or not being compassionate, to remember that God OFTEN uses our own children to bring up the stuff hiding under the surface so He can apply the fire and purify it! Thank you Jesus for my sweet Joseph and how you have used him in my life to help me be more like you and how you are working some awesome things in his life to make yourself known to him!