5 Names We Need to Know When We Feel Unseen

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

My new friend and I played for hours on that quiet, dead-end side street all those years ago, drawing chalk villages on pavement and constructing elaborate stories about our future families who would live in these colorful places. The hours flew by, and the daylight faded. With pastel-dusted knees and hands, I said goodbye and headed for the few houses down to my own for dinner.

My mother had been watching from the window, eager to know more about this new friend. When she asked me her name, she was surprised when I replied, “I don’t know.” We’d been together all day. I knew where she lived. That was enough for me.

Decades later, when I lived in Boston, a friend shared their family tradition of heading to the Cape for vacation and buying lobsters that they would then set on the floor of their cottage to race toward an agreed-upon finish line. It was a tradition. They even named them. And then they became dinner.

And I was a bit conflicted. I love lobster. But that same girl, who at eight didn’t need to know the name of her sidewalk chalk friend, later struggled with how someone would name their dinner!

The shift? I had started to understand the value of being named.

Being named is a pathway to being known. Knowing a name begins a connection.

As we grow, we collect names. Daughter. Friend. Co-worker. Wife. Mom. Mentor. But there are other names we gather and keep quiet – names that grow from hurt, misunderstanding, and rejection. Names that shame us or make us want to shrink.

The true value of our name rests in knowing which names are true.

Sometimes we’re named by someone who is going to love us unconditionally, and sometimes we’re named by someone who is, uh, going to love us as no more than a lobster dinner…

The names we gather from the places we’ve been don’t change who God sees. Who He made us to be. How He created and formed and dreamt of us.

One of the most famous lines in Romeo and Juliet examines the value of a name:

What’s in a name? That which we call a rose

by any other name would smell as sweet.

It’s of note that to Juliet, Romeo’s given name didn’t change who he was – who he was in the deepest places remained the same despite his surname. In the same way, knowing the value of the name God gives us in our souls – the name that covers all the other names we carry – steers us, guides us, and places us, how we walk into any room changes.

Because God doesn’t just call us by name, God names us.

When we question the places we find ourselves and whether we belong – when we lose our way and can’t remember who we are – we must hold onto the names He gives us. These names are promises that we’ve seen:

1 | You are beloved.

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7).

Being loved by anyone is beyond our control. But with God, our status as “loved” remains beyond our very existence. You are beloved any minute of any day – every minute of every day – because love is of God. Because God IS love. There is nothing we can do to change that fact. He straight up loves you because He simply can’t not.

2 | You are chosen.

“We know, dear brothers and sisters, that God loves you and has chosen you to be his own people” (1 Thess 1:4).

When we call Him Lord, we are His. Nothing we or anyone else says or believes alters this truth. You are chosen because you are His beloved. You are chosen for simply being loved and being His and loving Him. God has plans for you, but His love does not hinge on any unrealistic checklist or unending to-dos. We are chosen because of who He is. That is enough.

3 | You are redeemed.

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine” (Isaiah 43:1).

This promise comes in the Old Testament, before Jesus paid the ultimate price for our redemption. With His love for us, Jesus made us whole. Through His love for us, we are purchased and summoned by name. Like Ruth, who was invited into safety, protection and real love, we are given a place. We were planned for from the garden, and then secured and redeemed before our lives on earth even began. We can rest and receive our place with Jesus.

4 | You are His daughter.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God” (Romans 8:14).

The person Jesus called his daughter was a bleeding woman who had been deemed unclean, discarded for 12 years, yet dared to reach for Jesus. When we are propelled to Him, when we reach for His hem, when we are pulled and led by the Spirit to find Jesus’ feet, we become His children. His daughters. What joy that we can settle into our daughtership no matter our earthly circumstances. He calls each of us this beautiful name that comes with belonging, acceptance and placement.

5 | You are His friend.

“I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me” (John 15:15).

When we walk with Him, seek His words, and listen for His voice, we know Him deeper. When He shares His heart with us, He is confiding in us the very things God tells Him. This is the friendship of God. His friendship comes with the promise of safe, unconditional love and belonging. To be called His friend is not lightly offered, yet widely and freely given.

With God, we never have to wonder what our name is.

We don’t have to squish in to find a seat at the table.

We never have to wonder if we’ll be invited.

With God, we are not just wanted, we’re anticipated.

We’re known to our core with delight.

Your heart is seen and known and deeply loved without shadow or reminders of any other name you’ve been tempted to believe. You are not just seen; you’re called by the name He gives only to you.

“…And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it” (Revelations 2:17).