My Middle Name...

I love my middle name, but I’ve always found it a curious thing. How did my older sister end up with the middle name of Grace and my younger sister the middle name of Faith, and I with the middle name of Brooke.

Where does my name of Brooke fall in the midst of names like Grace and Faith?

Recently, I’ve discovered my name has been called to fall as a small stream flowing in the midst of a desert. A brooke moves the streams of life and so I take forth the living water.

In Isaiah 43 “God said He would give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to his chosen people.” He has given me to this dessert city to be a Brooke, filling me to flow forth.

Never is water as valuable as when you live in a parched land with no nearby bodies of water, and where a layer of dust perpetually covers everything around you. I walk through the streets in my flip flops and dust coats my feet. From the moment I wake up and my feet hit the floor, they have a layer from what the “wind conditioner” blew in through my open window. I imagine how glorious it must feel to have one’s feet washed, and I remember the Messiah bent over the water basin at his disciples’ feet in John 13.

At noon in the heat of the day may I be the water where the Messiah met the Samaritan woman and to her gave his living water in John 4. As he sends me forth, may thirsty souls be satisfied in Him. May I bubble with joy as the spring of water wells up in me and runs over to them for eternal life, a brooke that will never dry up.

Truly water is refreshing, cleansing, and life giving.

Father, may I be the Brooke in which you bring drink to you chosen people in the wilderness, in which you wash the feet of those who would rid themselves of the sin in this world, and in which you give eternal life by your Son who is himself the water in me!