Is God Calling You By a New Name?

From the back seat of the car, I heard our five year old friend, McKenzie, calling out repeatedly, "Helen! Helen!" We were on the way to the Fernbank museum to see the frog exhibit and I was riding in the front seat with my oldest daughter who was driving. Since no one in the car was named Helen, I paid her little attention and assumed it must be part of a conversation she was involved in with my younger daughter who was in the back seat with her. When she simply became louder and more insistent, I finally turned and asked her , "Who are you talking to?" Imagine my surprise when she said, "I'm calling you!" Helen? What? After some detective work, we discovered that she had heard other people calling me "Hey, Lynne" and concluded my name must be Helen.

I wonder if God ever calls us by a different name? I wonder if we are so stuck in our routine of comfortable worship and predictable service that we mistakenly assume a call for us is for someone else? Something like that happened to Samuel when he was a boy ministering under the priest Eli. God called Samuel during the night and he assumed it must be Eli calling him. Following up on that incorrect assumption, he learns to recognize God's call and God's plan for his life. I Samuel 3:1-8

Could God be calling you in a new way with a new name? Maybe he is calling you by the name of teacher or comforter when you have been accustomed to a different role. Maybe He is calling you leader or peacemaker. To hear that call though, you will need to step outside the familiar and listen with new ears. Otherwise, you just might miss that call altogether. "Helen, Helen, I'm calling YOU!"