My friend Cheryl told me about this book I just HAD to read! So the search begins for this book by Kary Oberbrunner called “YourSecret Name”. I find it on my iBooks app on my iPhone. Oh how I love my technology sometimes!

I finish the book before my friend Cheryl, who has had it longer than I by the way, & I’m thinking to myself “Well what’s MY secret name then & who am I? Where do I fit in?” Like I haven’t wondered those last two things my whole life even though I’ve been in & out of church since childhood?

Cheryl & I discuss our thoughts on the book trying to figure out our secret names. She saw me as chosen, but it just didn’t grab me so to speak. After about a week of our asking each other daily if the other one had figured it out, I stopped mid-conversation! “Cheryl, Quick! Get me a pen & paper! I have an idea for my next picture!!” I sketch it out & then sit on it for couple of days just thinking over the book, the picture & scriptures.

On my day off work, I’m on the phone chatting with my husband. The holidays are coming & it’s a tough one this year. He has lost his mother in March & his father three years ago in October. I go to www.yoursecretname.com to see if I can get an idea of his secret name or just something to help him breakthrough the emotional weight bearing down on him.

I click DEPRESSED, I see HOPE….It was like a ton of bricks hitting me & then being lifted followed by warmth. Like intense realization, followed by unimaginable joy! I dropped to my knees, spilled tears of joy, raised my hands & just kept saying “I’m HOPE! That’s me!” I sat down that night next to my husband & drew the picture in color – He loves it.

The message this picture holds is this: The “given names” or black stones attempt to consume us & destroy our true identity. To keep us from God’s path for us. Once we have that awakening it’s as if we crossed a barrier, God hovering as a mist of protection & clarity showing us who we are meant to live as. Everything changes in that moment. The “secret names” are our true identity & path to live on.

Elohim has always been one of my favorite names for God & it just seems to fit as all encompassing. Hi everyone, my secret name is HOPE. My name for God is El Simchah Giyl (God my exceeding Joy). In a search to help someone I love in their emotional struggles, I found who I am…I found that my path is to bring hope to those around me. I love how God works…always whispering.

–Randa Couch