Leah Stirewalt

Allow me to share a brief snippet of a message that I had the privilege of sharing multiple times with several groups of people in 2010. God has really blown me away at how He’s used this story to reach so many. I pray it blesses you as well…

My name hasn’t always been Leah. It used to be Julie. Yep. Hang with me for just a minute here. As a matter of fact, I went by the name Julie…for a WHOLE DAY, in kindergarten. Yes I did! Now, I guess this needs a little explanation.

When I was a little girl, my parents shared with me that they almost named me Julie Diane instead of the name they ended up giving me at birth…Leah Kristen. I was simply devastated to learn that I almost had the most glamorous name my little ears had ever heard at that time…Julie Diane. Instead…I was Leah Kristen. Boooorrrring. I just didn’t like my name…couldn’t stand it at that time actually. Then…one fine Kindergarten day, we had a new girl introduced to the class. Throughout the day, we had the opportunity to introduce ourselves to her, and when we were all alone in the “puppet center” together, I shared my name with her…Julie Diane! I sure did. I lied right then and there, and I actually got away with it – for the rest of the day! The charade ended, however, when the teacher took role the next morning, and Julie Diane didn’t exist.

Did you know that many years ago, in the land of Canann – the Promised Land – in the time of the Judges, there was another person that called himself by a different name? To set the stage a bit, Joshua had just led God’s people across the Jordan River into the Promised Land. And…like in the past…God’s people chose to disobey Him again. When obedient, God gave them favor. When they disobeyed, God’s hand of favor was lifted. If you look in Chapter 6 of the book of Judges, we get to know a bit more about Gideon, a great hero of the faith. God’s chosen people, the Israelites, had just beeen ravaged by the Midianites. The Israelites, once again, cried to God for mercy, and God was once again about to pour out mercy on them. He even had His battle leader already hand-picked. But, this was not just any battle leader…this was Gideon, a simple wheat thresher. What’s fascinating to me about this story comes in the following passage from Judges, chapter 6, verses 12 thru 16:

When the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon (the simple wheat thresher), he said, “The Lord is with you, MIGHTY WARRIOR.”

“But sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

“But Lord,” Gideon asked, “how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites together.”

God saw Gideon as He was making Him – into a mighty warrier. You see, in the very next chapter, God uses Gideon to totally defeat the Midianites. Gideon had a different name for himself – weak, the least, a simple wheat thresher. But God turned Gideon’s name of weakness into strength.

What name has God given you that you have yet to discover or take hold of? What name have you placed upon yourself that has crippled you? Are you pretending – like “Julie Diane” did that day many years ago? Are you living below the name that God has called you? Or – are you choosing to walk by faith with your new name?

For me, one of my names used to be “Abandoned”. I took on that name when my parents separated when I was eleven-years-old and even later when my husband left our marriage of over ten years. That was my name. Until God…

God revealed some of His names for me…Loved, Chosen, Princess, and even Beautiful. And…He reminded me in Deuteronomy 31:6 and again in Hebrews 13:4 that He will NEVER leave or forsake me. My name could no longer be Abandoned.

I now love the name my parents gave me at birth, and I love the names God has given me. Those are the names I go by now. And you? What is your name?

Happy New Year bloggy friends!

WOW! 2011 is here! Can you believe it? On top of that, my 40-day blogging journey begins today. As I wrote about previously, I’ll be blogging for 40 consecutive days and would LOVE to have you following along on this journey with me. I make no promises about writing inspirational, thought-provoking blogs that keep you panting with excitement until you can read the next one (oh…that would be a dream!). However, I do promise to be consistently on here for 40 days and to honestly share whatever God puts on my heart to share. And…I pray that at the end of the 40 days, you will have been challenged, inspired, and find yourself walking closer with Christ! I typically try to have my posts ready for early morning, but I can’t promise that will be the case everyday (hence – yesterday’s post at 11:45 pm).

Additionally, I mentioned in my Getting Ready post that I’d be participating with Beth Moore’s Siesta Scripture Memory Verse Team again this year. For more information, read that post by clicking HERE first. Friends, this is what it’s all about for me…hiding God’s Word in our hearts. To know Him more, we must Know his Word better. What better way to know His Word than to memorize it!

I’m copying Beth Moore’s format here, but for those of you that desire to participate along with me in this scripture memory verse challenge…here are the “rules”.

1. On the 1st and 15th of each month, we will choose (or be led to) a new verse to memorize. Please use a verse that you don’t already know by heart – that’s not much of a challenge is it?
2. Write it on an index card, or better yet – pick up one of those spiral bound index card packs. Then, all of your verses will be self-contained and easy for you to keep together and continue to recite as the year goes along.
3. Come here on the 1st and 15th of each month and leave a comment stating the following things: your first name, the city & state you’re from, type out your verse, the scripture reference, and the version you’ve chosen for this verse. This is an accountability measure – we all need to be held accountable or we tend to “quit” things a little easier – right? Just think – at the end of 2011, you’ll have 24 verses memorized.
4. You are always welcome to use my verse if you’re having trouble coming up with one for the month, but ask God to help you find THE verse He wants you to memorize.

So…here we go…

I believe the WORD that God has given me for 2011 is deliverance! I believe it will be a year full of deliverance. I’ll blog about the details of that more as it unfolds, but I’m so stinkin’ excited about what this year holds that I can hardly contain my excitement! So, I asked God to lead me to a verse that reflects this deliverance “theme”, and He did indeed! Being the first to “report in”,

Leah
Asheville, NC

You are my hiding place; you will protect me from trouble and surround me with songs of deliverance.

Psalm 32:7 NIV

OK – from those of you that choose to participate (I hope that’s lots of you), let’s hear your verses! I’m so excited to start this journey with you!