DEE DEE

My whole life, I've always struggled with my name -- Dee Dee -- as it supposedly means "little brother" in Chinese and I have always carried the weight with me that my parents were disappointed with the fact that I was yet another girl after already having two daughters.  In Chinese custom and superstition, if you name a girl "Dee Dee" (little brother) it is supposed to be good luck in the next child being a boy.

I also knew that as a kingdom principle, names carry a lot of importance. In the Bible, the character/personality/behavior of a person is in tune with their name.  Jacob's name meant "Deceiver" and you could see his actions were in line with his name, but God later redeemed it and re-named him Israel, meaning the one who has conquered and won.

Anyways, I used to think that I was doomed to live out the identity of my name -- taking on the responsibilities that a boy in a family would normally take, as well as taking initiative and pursuing things in a bold manner more typically associated with men.  Just the other day, someone AGAIN asked me what the meaning of my name Dee Dee was, and I pretty much ignored them because I didn't want to go into the routine of telling them it meant "little brother" because I was the third girl, etc.

Then one evening I was reading Bill Johnson's "A Life of Miracles" book and it again spoke about the importance of names, the weight it carried in your identity, etc etc.  My heart sunk, thinking, "Oh, are we HERE again...."  and in the accompanying devotional that followed that chapter, it prompted me to look up the meaning of my name.  'Fine,' I thought.  Let's just get this over with.  I thought I had looked it up in the past but didn't remember exactly what had come up, so consumed was I at that point with what the world was telling me my name meant.  So with a heavy heart and some resignation (only thinly veiled as obedience), I typed it in Google, expecting to see some form of what I already believed, or else some odd, unrelated meaning stemming from an Irish word or something.

Check out my astonishing discovery:

In Hebrew, Dee Dee means "BELOVED" and "GOD IS MY JUDGE, GOD HAS JUDGED."

REDEMPTION.

Since this precious discovery, I feel that I have been set free to passionately pursue the destiny that God has planned for me without the hindrance of nagging and deceptive thoughts that I am “too bold” or “too masculine” or “too expressive.”  I’ve come to realize that my parents did the best they knew how with what they had, but the almighty God of the Universe who knew me before I was born is the One who calls me BELOVED first and in the end will be the One to judge me with love.  He who loved me first set out to pursue me with this mighty word of encouragement, which in turn has filled the vessel of my being with love – enough love that I felt God speaking to me to make a commitment and a decision to love my earthly father in a love language that he understands – physical touch.  I made a commitment to hug and kiss him every single time I saw him, regardless of how I felt that day or how he reacted to me.  At first, it was awkward (especially in a Chinese family!) and seemed out of sync with whatever we happened to be doing, but soon enough he learned to rely on the consistency of my actions and started to reach for it every time we got together.  He started to bask in the attention that his friends gave him when this happened in front of them (i.e., “Wah, lucky you, your daughter is so affectionate with you!”)  It’s brought a lot of healing to our relationship and it’s only the beginning – and it all began with a word from the Lord.

It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.  (Isaiah 55:11)

Dee Dee