Is that a family name?

Sophia Constance
May you wisely and faithfully

remember and reflect the one true God

who is perfectly wise and persistently faithful.

Dear Sophia,

You received your name from the one person who has inspired us the most and loved us the best—God himself. When you are not sure where to find your identity or significance, we hope you will look to your Creator, who made you for a purpose and has a good and perfect plan for all your days. May your name remind you of this one true God, who is perfectly wise and persistently faithful.

The name “Sophia” means “wisdom,” which is the ability to discern what is right and true matched with the power to act accordingly. In God we find the ultimate manifestation of this knowledge and power. With this knowledge and power, he created the world--with fragrant Magnolia blooms and thunderstorms, tiny toes and fathomless galaxies.

I pray you will come to be in awe of this God, who knows far more than we can ever comprehend and who powerfully acts accordingly. There are many things I will never understand about God, but I can trust that all he is and does is good and wise. I've seen his wisdom when he sends an encouraging comment my way, just as I was about to give up. I've also seen his wisdom when I haven't received what I wanted, only to find out later that he had better things in store. Sophia, I pray that you will know that God, in his amazing wisdom, created you—with all your beauty, quirks, mystery, passion, and talent. I pray also that you will believe that he is wisely working for your absolute, very best interests in and through Jesus Christ. I pray you will trust him for just that.

As your first name is a reminder of God's ultimate wisdom, we pray that your middle name will remind you of God's constancy. God is constant and never changes, and because God is already perfect, that’s a good thing! When I think of God’s constancy, I think of his faithfulness, his persistence, his trustworthiness and dependability, and his determination. God is who he says he is, and he does not change. We can count on him. God will do what he promises; he will not change his mind. We can trust him. God will not give up when a situation seems impossible to us. In him, we can have hope. When God sets his mind and heart on something, we can be confident that he will persist until he accomplishes it. With that in mind, I hope your middle name, “Constance,” reminds you of God’s “never stopping, never giving up, unbreaking, always and forever love” (to borrow a phrase from your brother’s current favorite bedtime story in The Jesus Storybook Bible). I pray that you will trust God for his faithful love, for all that he says he is, and for all that he says he’ll do.

While your name reminds you of God’s character, I pray also that your name will inspire you. I pray that your life will reflect God’s wisdom—that you would seek to discern what is true, right, and just and then act appropriately, according to the strength and ability God gives you. And in some ways, I pray you’d reflect God’s constancy. While I hope that you continue to grow, learn, and change throughout your life (unlike God), I also hope that you’d be true to who God created you to be and true to your word, just as God is true. May this wise and faithful God be the “anchor for your soul” (Heb. 6:19) and the inspiration for your life.

Love,
Mom