A Good Name

A good name is rather to be chosen than great riches,
and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
Proverbs 22:1

David and Jolene and their young sons
Christmas Banquet 2004
(David and the boys are wearing the vests and hats worn by the local Indians here)

Many of you know my sister-in-law, Jolene, who is my brother, David’s wife. Many of you know that she was raised by her grandmother because of her abusive parents. I cannot read her testimony without weeping, and thanking the Lord for lifting her up out of that lifestyle and placing her in the place she is today…my brother’s wife (SMILE!) and a missionary in Ukraine! What a blessing she is to all, is she not?!

What some of you may not know is that Jolene’s mother named her after a country song called “Jolene.” When she was a very young child, her father would take her to bars and make her stand on a table and sing that song to the drunk men in those bars. How heartbreaking!

My husband met Jolene when she and David came to our wedding in 2002;
then he got to know her a little better when she returned for a visit with their family in December, 2004.

Jolene, Davey and Nate at our church's Christmas Banquet in 2004

The following year, in September, 2005, I gave birth to our daughter. Andrew said, “We are going to name her Deborah Jolene. I think Jolene is one of the most joyful women I know, and I want our daughter to be named after her.”

One month before Deborah was born

Deborah Jolene, one month old

Deborah Jolene, 3 years old

--Since then Jolene has told us of 2 other little girls who have been named after her.--

And on May 2, 2011, a little girl was born to a precious couple in our church. When I asked what her name would be, her father said, “She will be named Jolene, after your brother’s wife. And I have their prayer card in our house, and we are going to spell it just like she spells it.”

Sixto and Rosario
and Baby Jolene

Dedicating Baby Jolene to the Lord on Sunday, June 26, 2011

Thank you, Jolene, for taking a name that was only sung in bars and was used to fill fleshly thoughts, and changing it by your godly lifestyle and using it to uplift the name of our Holy Saviour. May these little girls who are your namesakes live up to the spiritual standard you have set. May they always look up to you as their example of godliness.

David and Jolene, Davey and Nate in December, 2004

And may we all seek to have “a good name,” for it is rather to be chosen than great riches.