The Truth About Your Name

Have you ever Googled yourself?

Maybe you were curious. Maybe you were worried. Either way, you know that strange feeling when someone else's version of you shows up on a screen.

After fifty years in ministry, I've learned something that took me way too long to believe:

What people say about you is not what God says about you.

And only one of those opinions lasts.

We live in a world where a headline, a comment, or a screenshot can define a person overnight.

But here's what I know from walking through cancer, through COVID, through seasons where my name got dragged through mud I never even touched:

Your identity was never meant to be built on public opinion.

In Scripture, when God changed someone's name, He wasn't correcting a typo. He was revealing who they really were: and who they were becoming.

Abram became Abraham. Simon became Peter.

God didn't look at their past performance. He looked at their purpose.

> "You are not behind. You are not being graded. You are being held."

Naomi, broken by grief, renamed herself Mara: meaning "bitter."

She let her pain rewrite her identity.

But God never called her that.

And He doesn't call you by your worst season either.

Psalm 139:1-2

> "O Lord, thou hast searched me, and known me. Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou understandest my thought afar off."

God sees the whole story. Not just the chapter someone screenshot and shared.

If your peace depends on managing everyone's perception of you, you'll be exhausted forever.

I know. I tried that route.

But grace taught me something better:

> "Mercy is not trailing behind you with conditions. It is running toward you with intention."

Your name is safe in God's hands. Not because you're perfect: but because He is faithful.

That's the freedom I write about in The Big Leap of Faith: Believing God Loves You Exactly As You Are.

It's not about pretending pain doesn't exist. It's about knowing whose opinion actually shapes eternity.

If you've been carrying the weight of what others think: or what the internet says: I want to invite you to set it down.

Not because it doesn't hurt.

But because God's voice is louder than all of it.

> "God is not disappointed in you. He is not measuring your worth by your consistency."

You can explore more of this grace-centered journey at waustingardner.com, or listen to real conversations about mercy and identity on Followed by Mercy.

For my Spanish-speaking friends, Guillermo A. Gardner writes on these same themes at guillermoagardner.substack.com.

You're not defined by a search engine.

You're defined by a Savior.

You don't have to stop caring: you just have to care more about what God says. His opinion is the only one that holds weight in eternity. Start by anchoring your identity in Scripture, not in comments or search results.

Absolutely. Your reputation with people and your relationship with God are two different things. He sees you fully: past, present, and future: and He still calls you His own. That's the heart of grace.

Peace comes when you stop trying to control the narrative and start trusting the One who knows the full story. I've written more about this in Finding Peace When You Are Falsely Accused. You're not alone in this.

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