JEHOVAH-RAAH- The Lord Leads

Yesterday was a great day spent meeting our Compassion Canada child. During our time with our guide we shared with him our new daughter’s name, Sitina. We have mentioned to several people in passing but not many people know it although our close circle is mainly Christian.  During the visit we asked him if he was familiar with the name. We chose the name Sitina because it was Ethiopian and we really liked the meaning; to be united by love. Our guide shared it with the compound worker as well and they informed us the name Sitina is only used my Muslims in Ethiopia. We had no idea... He actually asked us if the name is permanent or if we could change it... What??? Change her name??? Are you serious???  We then sent him on a mission to find out if the name was indeed only used my Muslims. After several candid interviews with random muslim people on the street we came to the conclusion that SItina is in fact a muslim name in Ethiopia. Obviously we knew nothing about this prior to today. Gary and I were sick. We knew her as Sitina since our referral. To change her name now seemed unbelievable. We just couldn’t imagine. While spending the day with our guide we considered many different Ethiopian girl names. You may ask, “why does it even matter?” There are several reasons:

1. We choose an Ethiopian name to honor our daughter’s heritage. 
2. Her birth mother is Protestant.
3. We are obviously Protestant.
4. Even though in Canada it may not matter, in Ethiopia, it does.
5. For us, we never know where the Lord may lead and we don’t want our daughter to have a muslim name and come from a Christian family. 
6. Because God cares about her name.

We considered many names and their meanings. Gary asked our guide if there was a name that sounded like Sitina. He suggested Sitota. That sounded nice... it means “gift”. How appropriate. We have said many times she is gift from God for our family. This might be it... So we went home with our heads hung low. We could not believe we were actually considering changing her name. I talked to my mother about the possibility which was a further confirmation. We talked to the GH family and they were so happy that we were considering changing her name to Sitota. “That is a good name they said, a very good name”. We went to bed last night with almost full intentions to change her name to Sitota. We woke this morning with a different attitude. She is Sitina to us... how could we change her name? God knows we didn’t choose a Muslim name on purpose. He understands... We were trying to rationalize it. 

I went down to do some laundry and Gary stayed up with the baby. His heart was so heavy. He took her in his arms, laid down on the bed with her and placed his hands on her to pray for the Lord’s leading. “God would you please direct? Does it really matter? Help us to know.”  After praying he took his Bible to read. He turned first to Ephesians. That wasn’t where he felt led to read. His Bible reading plan was set for 2 Samuel but he decided to go and read  where he typically does when he doesn’t have a particular place in mind. What day was this? The 22nd. He turned to Proverbs 22 because is was the 22nd day of the month. Verse one reads “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches”. WHAT??? Yes. That’s right. God cares about her name. Gary shared with me what he had read with tears in his eyes. How personal our Lord is. He cares about our daughter’s name. At that moment, full of thankfulness we unanimously choose the name Sitota for our sweet precious baby. We honestly feel that the Lord chose her name. We never heard of it before yesterday. Our guide suggested it to us. Our guesthouse family confirmed it was a “good name” and our Lord made the decision. ALL PRAISE AND GLORY TO GOD!