In Genesis, we read about God changing Abram and Sarai’s names when they make a covenant with Him. The name changes seem slight, but they indicate a huge leap in purpose and influence. With a shift in a couple of letters, God shows that He has very big plans for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Abram became Abraham, and with those two new letters, the meaning of his name moved from “exalted father” to “father of multitudes<\/em>.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n Sarai became Sarah, and with that change, “my princess\/ woman of strength” grew to “princess\/ woman of strength to many<\/em>.” (Concepts for these names are from the Israel Bible Center website.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n This ancient story becomes our story as we make covenants and become “numbered among the people of the first covenant,” (Mormon 7:10) which began with Adam and Eve. God intends the same thing for us as He did for His ancient covenant people,<\/p>\n\n\n\n I will bless thee…<\/p>\n\n\n\n And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.<\/p>\nGenesis 22:17-18<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n Just as He gave new names to Abraham and Sarah, I think that the Lord continues his mighty work through small and symbolic changes. As I look back on my life, my covenants with Him have set me on a journey that requires me to move beyond self into a larger area of influence, one mothering moment, one calling, one chance at empathy, one apology, and one change in personal philosophy at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n At baptism, and each week during the sacrament, we show our willingness to take upon ourselves Jesus Christ’s name. Truly, His Name gives infinite potential and purpose to our lives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In Genesis, we read about God changing Abram and Sarai’s names when they make a covenant with Him. The name changes seem slight, but they indicate a huge leap in purpose and influence. With a shift in a couple of letters, God shows that He has very big plans for them. Abram became Abraham, and … Continue reading New name, expanded purpose<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,8,36,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24997","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-of-mormon","category-church","category-jesus-christ","category-old-testament"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24997","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24997"}],"version-history":[{"count":92,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24997\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25433,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24997\/revisions\/25433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24997"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24997"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.angelaross.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24997"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n