What's in a Name?

I was sitting in the hospital recently after giving birth to my newest treasure, listening to the sweet patterns of his breathing and falling more in love with each little sigh. He's a dream come true. I've wanted four boys for as long as I can remember. Hard to say exactly why. I had no idea that building our family would be anything other than simple and easy. I was wrong. We buried our first son, Adam. We were devastated and the wounds from that loss sometimes haunt us even today. Then we had Caleb, a stressful pregnancy but easy delivery. The two to follow weren't so easy. Each of them had frightening stays in the NICU that had us, at one point, wondering if we were going to be burying another child. When it came time to try for our fourth and last baby, my body wouldn't cooperate. We were told we probably couldn't get pregnant again without the help of medication. We decided to wait and think it over. God had a different plan and I got pregnant after all. I wanted a fourth boy and knew from the start that the baby I carried was the boy I longed for. The pregnancy and delivery were the most physically demanding I'd ever had. But it was all worth it for the bundle of heaven I held in my arms. No complications. No NICU stay. Just sweet perfection. I decided to name the baby Benjamin long before he was even conceived. The story of Benjamin's birth is powerful. Rachel, Benjamin's mother, had an extremely difficult delivery and ended up dying as a result. Before she died, however, she named her son Ben-Oni, which means Son of My Sorrow. His father, Jacob, whose name means The Deceiver, knew all too well the burden of a bad name. He understood that carrying the guilt of his mother's death through his name was too much for a child to bear and renamed him Benjamin, Son of My Right Hand. God himself decided to relieve Jacob of such a burden and renamed him Israel, God Wrestler and Father of the Twelve Tribes. What you call yourself is important. What God Himself calls you, even more so. In Isaiah 62:2 God promises "...you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow." So I named my son Benjamin because I could very well declare our journey to build a family hardship. I could name it pain or loss, sorrow or fear. Or I could give it a new name: God is faithful, God is My Healer, God is My Strength and My Song. He is faithful and He wrote the story of my family with His own hand. He has turned my wailing into dancing, He removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.