We had a more difficult time arriving at a name for Jeremiah than we did with Riley. It was important to me for our son to have a name that I liked not only in sound, but in meaning. I loved the name Riley and it means valiant and courageous. Her middle name is Grace. This is also my sister Rebecca’s middle name and the name of my great-grandmother, who we called “Mama Grace”. For those reasons and it simply being the word “grace” I liked this for a middle name. Jon was not convinced until, while I was pregnant, he read the book Ragamuffin Gospel by Brennan Manning. He was moved by the discussion of grace in the book and felt it would be a worthy middle name for our daughter. So, that is how Riley Grace Huff got her name. “Riley” is also Irish and she was born on St. Patrick’s day…interesting.
Every night I pray that Riley would be a valiant and courageous warrior for the Lord and that God’s grace would be revealed through Riley. It is her name.
So, Jeremiah. It is obviously a “Biblical” name, but so much more than that to us. The past year and a half has been difficult. Short version…we tried to sell our house to move to North Carolina so that Jon could play with Matt Papa and go to seminary for FREE. So, we quit our jobs…could not sell our house…so needless to say we had some struggles trusting the Lord and understanding his plan. During this time Jon wrote a song from Jeremiah 29. Also during this time the Lord gave me a passage that I pretty much repeated to myself multiple times throughout the day and it helped us get through this rough year. The verse was Jeremiah 17: 7-8
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream; it does not fear when heat comes it’s leaves are always green. It has worry in the year of drought; it never fails to bear fruit.”
The book of Jeremiah was very relevant in our lives during that time. I even painted that passage... which for me means it’s important.
Then we find out we are pregnant. Of course I repeat this verse to myself…but I was scared. I did not feel like I was physically, emotionally, or financially prepared for another child. God knows better than I do and I cannot imagine my life without my little Jer Bear (Jon says I am not aloud to call him that). God has brought us through a lot and we are still learning how to trust Him.
Also, I wanted our son to have the same initials as Jon (JDH). So we were looking for a “J” name. I don’t know why the name “Jeremiah” did not hit me earlier. I really wanted to name him Jachin (meaning…), but Jon was not a fan. Then we realized. JEREMIAH. It’s like God was telling us to name him that for a year but we did not see it until a week before he was born…silly little humans. The meaning: Hebrew; God will raise up; God will set free. It’s a done deal…his name will be Jeremiah. The middle name. We could have gone with Jon’s middle name “Daniel” which means “God is my Judge”, but we decided to use the name David after David in the Bible and Jon’s dad, David Huff. The meaning: Beloved. And that is the name Jeremiah David Huff. God will raise up and I pray that he will be a leader for the Lord and just like Jeremiah in the days of old he will speak the Lord’s truth regardless of the circumstance. He is the Lord’s beloved. This is our son.
