You will be called by a new name…

I’m not exactly sure how I discovered Flyleaf, the band, but they were from Texas, the loved Jesus without being too Christiany, and it was during my quarter century life crisis when I was kind of into the emo/punk/scream sort of things (yes, at 25, I was into most things 15 year olds were into…don’t judge…haha). I loved going to see them in bars and knowing their songs were about Jesus while the drunk guy next to me thought Lacey, the lead singer, was singing about some dude she loved.

I also loved Lacey’s story. She just recently came out with a book that I just got for my birthday last weekend and already half-way through it! She was an atheist turned Christian rock princess and I thought she was awesome. So much that I read many articles about her. Most of them contained information on her many tattoos and their meanings behind them. The tattoo on her arm read Beulah and went across the inside of her forearm. She said it came from the Bible, Isaiah 62, and meant bride or married. I read the verse…

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent,
    for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet,
till her vindication shines out like the dawn,
    her salvation like a blazing torch.
² The nations will see your vindication,
    and all kings your glory;
you will be called by a new name
    that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.
³ You will be a crown of splendor in the Lord’s hand,
    a royal diadem in the hand of your God.
⁴ No longer will they call you Deserted,
    or name your land Desolate.
But you will be called Hephzibah,
    and your land Beulah;
for the Lord will take delight in you,
    and your land will be married.
⁵ As a young man marries a young woman,
    so will your Builder marry you;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
    so will your God rejoice over you. (NIV)

I didn’t see why Beulah was special enough for her to get it tattooed. The verse was talking about a city, Jerusalem. So why did that mean so much to her? Did she want to be married to Jerusalem?

A few years later and after some very life changing events (aka a very big breakup…more on that later), I reread that scripture and it wrecked me. I crossed out the words Zion and Jerusalem in my bible and wrote my name in their place. Now it said that I, Kristin, was no longer desolate or forsaken but I was the Lord’s delight and I was His Bride…married…I was His Beulah. I cried and cried because that breakup made me finally understand what a relationship was with Jesus and not just claiming to be a Christian. And at that time in my life I needed to know that I wasn’t forsaken and that even though I was single again, I was His Bride and His Delight.

So in April of 2012, the Saturday before Easter, I went and got Beulah tattooed on my wrist in Hebrew. I hate needles and very squeamish about things like that so never thought I would ever get one. I went with some friends to get it done so I was quite entertaining as I did my  breathing and tried my hardest not to pass out from it. It was also a special day because, as I prayed earnestly throughout the years for my husband, I asked God that He would reveal the meaning of Beulah to him and how special it was to me. I told Him that He would have to tell my husband in some supernatural way because I wanted that to be some sort of sign that if he knew, then he was the one. Crazy…I know, to challenge God like that. But I did.

But guess who took this picture of me…

My husband, who then at the time was just one of my friends who went with me to get a tattoo.

So as God has been laying on my heart these past few months of this vision to be an advocate and mentor for single women, I began to wonder what it would look like and what He wanted me to do to start it. I was washing my hand the other day and looked down at my wrist and it just popped in my head. A blog… like a diary on my thoughts and His on how to encourage, support, advise and love those who are in the midst singleness.…and call it The Beulah Diaries.

I pray that if you are in the midst of the singleness, God will reveal a new name to you. A name that is special between you and Him and reminds you that though you may not have a husband (or wife if you are guy reading this) now that He loves you more than they ever can and that makes you so very worthy.