The Day the Judge Changed Her Name

In a county courthouse in Nashville, Tennessee, a seven-year-old girl named Maria sat in a wooden chair too big for her, swinging her legs nervously. For three years she had been Case Number 2019-JV-4471. Foster homes had shuffled her between zip codes. School records listed her as "temporary placement." Social workers, however kind, referred to her file before they remembered her face.

But on that Tuesday morning, David and Rachel Brennan sat on either side of her, and when the judge asked if they wished to proceed, David's voice broke as he said, "We've been waiting for this day since the moment we met her."

The judge signed the papers. Maria became Maria Grace Brennan. Rachel had sewn the name onto a pillowcase the night before — she had been that certain, that eager. David had already hung a framed photo in the hallway at home, right between their other children's pictures. The empty space had been waiting for months.

That is the heartbeat of Isaiah 62. The Almighty looks at His people — once called Deserted, once called Desolate — and refuses to stay silent until their new name rings out for everyone to hear. Hephzibah. My Delight Is in Her. Not a case number. Not a label of abandonment. A name spoken with the joy of a bridegroom who has been preparing a place and can barely contain himself on the day his beloved finally comes home.