What's In A Name?

| Hi, My Name Is... |

My mother was 17 years old when she got pregnant with me and 18 years old when I was born. When I was younger, I always disliked my name because it was different and because of the various jokes, questions, and general confusion that it was met with every time I was introduced to a new person or group. It was aggravating. I remember wanting my name to be Lisa or Theresa. LOL! It's funny now.

I always asked my mom why she named me "Terima". She always told me that she and her girlfriends were trying to think of a name for me when she was pregnant. She told me that she was inspired by the name of her good friend, "Terri". The girls added some ethnic creativity, came up with Terima, and thought that it was "their" idea. Some years ago, I decided to do an internet search on the meaning of my name for the fun of it and discovered these two meanings: Terema - (pron) TEH-reh-mah/A CHEERFUL PERSON ....Swahili,East Africa/ Terima Kasih - meaning- THANK YOU....Malay Language, Malaysia, Indonesia Now, my name is only part of a Malaysian phrase meaning "Thank You." Interesting. The Swahili has assigned the meaning "Cheerful Person" to my name. Although it’s spelled a little different, it's very similar phonetically. This discovery initially caused me to say, “HMMM, what does this mean?” Could it be that God himself had named me when I was in my mother's womb and through supernatural intervention had my mother "come up" with the name Terima?

| A Preconceived Notion |

In the Bible, names had meanings that were significant in the life of a person. Names foretold, in many cases, the blessings or curses on a person’s life. I wanted to know what the Word of God had to say about this, so I searched and I found Jeremiah 1:5 that says:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew [and] approved of you [as My chosen instrument], and before you were born I separated and set you apart, consecrating you; [and] I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”

That's deep. So, it was then that I knew that the Lord knew me before I was even conceived and intervened in my mother's mind and spirit to name me Terima. As I look at my life currently and previously, I see the call on my life to be a cheerful person. I've been told many, many, many times that I am a very cheerful person. I've earned nicknames such as Smiley and when looking through a journal that I had my friends sign in the past, I found so many references to my smiling face. My mother even boasted over the years that I was the only child that she has that woke up most days with a big smile on my face when I was a baby. Cheerful, I understood right away. "Thank You", I didn’t get right away—that is until I began to embrace my calling to minister to and help others. I'm willing to do ALL that God has called me to do and if this is part of it, then this is what I'll do. So, friends, I encourage you to look up the meaning of your name and, if you can, ask your parents what inspired them to name you as they did. You may get some new insight into your life like I did. -Terima Katria :-))

[I wrote this about 10 years ago. I had no idea when I wrote it that God was speaking over me and through me at the same time. This writing was indeed prophetic, and God is STILL revealing things to me about it and His plan for my life. This is an exciting time in my life.

Recently, I began to see how “Thank you, TERIMA” is consistent with how I’ve lived in recent years. “Thank you, cheerful person", is what they’re saying time and time again. I see now how God has placed a call on my life to not only be a cheerful person but to be a cheerful giver of my time, talent, and treasures. If I had a nickel for every time someone said, “Thank you, Terima”, I’d be worldly rich right now. See, now I understand why the enemy came for my joy; he wanted to dispossess me of my cheer. For me, my joy is attached to my identity in Christ. I cannot be authentically cheerful if I lack joy. So the enemy worked overtime to keep me in a state of depression and despair because he didn’t JUST want to steal my joy, but he wanted to kill my IDENTITY and rob me of the opportunity to serve and minister to others. Fortunately for me, Jesus said, “NO”, and I agreed with Him! I stopped agreeing with the devil like I had done for many years in thought and deed. Through a process, I began to agree with God about me and my life. The very events that the devil orchestrated to steal and destroy my identity and the ministry that God had knitted into my very makeup, are what God has used to restore me, prepare me, and equip me so that He can catapult me into the destiny He has established for me.

Yes, the devil wanted to destroy the very essence of who God created me to be. It was a much bigger attack than I originally perceived, which shows me that I was becoming a bigger threat to the kingdom of darkness than I even understood. The devil is a lot of things, but stupid isn’t one of them. He could see that God was preparing me. That's when all hell broke loose in my life.

Today, I’m thankful for the name I was given and for the opportunity God has given me to be all that He created me to be.]