Our God is a God of details. He designed everything about us with a purpose from the color of our eyes to the names we were given. He makes no mistakes. When I was born, my parents chose to name me Delaney, not thinking of the meaning it may carry or how my personality would be. But since being on the race, my name has taken me on quite the journey of redemption. So this is that story.
When we were in Gainesville, I remember sitting outside with some of my friends and the meaning behind our names came up. I said how mine means the daughter of darkness or the daughter of the challenger. It quickly became one of my many nicknames in the squad. I didn’t really mind it, I took it lightly until I later realized how much of my identity I was finding in my name. I mean it is literally how people identify you, especially when they don’t know you at all.
When I got baptized in Gainesville, a part of that identity was chipped away at when I went under the water and literally came up as the daughter of light. God is light and their is no darkness found in Him. He lives inside us so that means we are all children of His light. Darkness has no hold on us because His spirit of light lives within us.
When we got to Costa Rica, I realized that the Lord wasn’t done redeeming it yet. In fact, he was preparing for me to receive a whole new meaning. When we met Corrie, one of our base staff here, she found out about that nickname of mine and decided to turn it around completely. My name no longer was one of darkness but instead it challenged the dark. God gave me the identity and authority to challenge the dark, dispel lies, disarm fear and cast out the enemy. My name doesn’t have the authority to keep me in chains anymore. I get to walk in the freedom, he has so freely given me and challenge the false identity of others. He know us each not only by our name but what we will do for His kingdom. This redemption story is just the beginning of fully walking out in true identity and it is an honor to invite you into the journey.
