The Name of Your Call to Write

by Emme Gannon @GannonEmme

A name is a precious gift, an identifying word that should bring a symphonic sound to your ears each time it is spoken. Your name is a word filled with the essence of who you are. You are the name by which you are addressed. We often couple our name with what we do. Your name, then author, or writer. Both names need to be part of the image we have of ourselves. However, that is not always the case.

Years ago I had a nickname that didn’t fit. When the wrong name is used to refer to us, it does not connect to who we are or who we will be. I went through many years being teased and embarrassed when my name was called.

We often have names we give ourselves. Names like loser or less than. They become subconscious labels we wear that are loaded with emotion and meaning and force us to live in a smaller story, one confined by fears and insecurities and limited by rejection we’ve endured. We’re afraid to step into the life we’re called to. We plough through life often fitting into the mold others have designed for us instead of breaking free and allowing God to renew and restore. 

In the Biblical story of Ruth, we read where Ruth’s mother-in-law reacted to the death of her husband and sons by changing her name from Naomi, which means “my delight” to Mara, “bitter.” She allowed her sad circumstances to turn her away from who she was to what she was feeling at that tragic time in her life. We know how the story ends. She is renewed and once again becomes Naomi and lives to see the birth of her grandson, as well as become part of the tree of life that bears our Savior Jesus. 

Our names are important to God. The Bible gives many examples of God intervening to change the name of His children. Abram, meaning “exalted father” became Abraham, “father of a multitude.” Jacob, “supplanter or deceiver” was changed by God to Israel, “prince of God.” Simon, “he has heard” became Peter, “rock.” The names God gave proclaimed what they would become as they followed His commands.

My own re-naming came on a Sunday morning during our pastor’s sermon. He challenged us with the question, “What do you feel when someone speaks your name? How does your name identify you? What story does it tell?” I tried to blot away tears. They would not be held back. The hurt was too deep. 

God used that sermon to change my name. I discarded the nickname that had brought such embarrassment and embraced the given name which had also belonged to my grandmother. I traded a name that stood for rejection to a name that meant “Whole, God is with us.”

Recently a dear friend gifted me with an insulated drinking cup that had Writer written on it. Encapsulated around that word were definitions of a writer. Artist. Romantic. Passionate. Observer. Author. Daydreamer. There were more adjectives than I could count. All defining a writer. Beneath the litany of writer names was my name. My friend didn’t have a clue as to the significance of this gift. 

Words have meaning. Words have life. Names tell a story of not only who we are but the potential of who we can become. God cares what we are called and what we call ourselves. He reassures us in Isaiah 49:16, “See, I have written your name on the palm of my hands.” Again, in Isaiah 43:1, we are reassured, “I have called you by name; you are mine.”

Do you believe your calling? Can you say your name and put writer next to it? Even though the words and stories that you’ve spent hours and days and months writing have been thus far rejected for publication, can you still know that the word writer is part of your name? Don’t lose heart. When God calls, He equips. Our job is to let Him clear all the false names we’ve attributed to ourselves so that the names He has given us will strengthen and sustain us for service. 

On the back of my writing mug are the words, Write on. Yes, write on, writer. Write on, dreamer of words. Write on, creator of stories. Write on.

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Emme Gannon is a wife, mother, and grandmother who loves to write stories that stir the heart. Her award-winning writing has appeared in Focus on the Family magazine, several anthologies, and numerous newsletters. She just completed her first novel.