When God Speaks

Growing up, I hated my name. Lissa, why Lissa? I remember begging my Mom to change my name over & over. Well, she finally relented.

One day after school (1st grade), I again ran inside asking for a new name. This time she answered, ‘Let me think about it’ instead of the usual retort, ‘No, Lissa, you cannot do that’. Excited I began thinking of names I liked coming up with the name, Amanda, I believe. It has been a while so I cannot be 100%, but 90% is not bad.

That night after prayers, I wanted to decide on the change so I again brought the subject up to her explaining that I had chose the name Amanda. She seemed to think about this for a minute, then said, no, that is too different from your name and other people wouldn’t be able to accept that name. She said to me, ‘What about Melissa? It’s a pretty name and will be easier to remember.’ Well, a six year old little girl loved it. I’m sure because she would be the only person that was going to be able to change her name. So, I readily agreed that Melissa would work.

The next morning she & I walked into my class and she let the teacher know that I was now Melissa, not Lissa. The teacher accepted the change and I was called Melissa from that day on. Needless to say if you have not already guessed, my name was always Melissa. I just didn’t know it. My Dad could not say Melissa very well so Lissa stuck. A name he could pronounce easily. A name I despised for whatever reason a six year old despises things. Only later, much later, would I understand that my name was always Melissa. They dodged a bullet on that one, lol.

The story gets better. My middle name is Gale after my Mom. Gale, like the wind, I could appreciate. At the age of 35 or so, I find that my name is Gail, not Gale. A name I was not fond of or the meaning, at least. A birth certificate I had been mailed revealed the mishap. For 35 years, I had been Melissa Gale, not Lissa Gail. But, this day I was Melissa Gail and what does a girl do at this point? They roll with it and that’s exactly what I did. I rolled with it and am still rolling with it.