You Shall Be Called By a New Name

Sometimes change comes slowly and almost imperceptibly. It can take years for a transformation to be noticed or observed.

Other times change whirls in like a hurricane and leaves nothing in its path the same. Change can seem sudden to the observer and yet be completely embraced by the one who enacts the change and needs to leave certain things behind.

Read -- I have been doing lots of changing behind the scenes that no one really saw. Except my children, who had a front row seat for ALL of it. Even the days when I burst into tears in the lunch meat section of Kroger or completely lost my cool when a Kenny Chesney song came on the Pandora shuffle.

Over the past couple of years, I have gone through the most transforming change of my entire life. I set in motion the ending of a marriage of two + decades, one I had committed to in front of family and friends. 

I left what had become a toxic atmosphere in every area: physically, emotionally, spiritually, mentally, and financially. I chose to lean on the Lord in faith, depending on and seeing His rescuing hand in the very biggest and tiniest of ways. He left no detail unattended. God was so incredibly evident that my now ex-husband recognized it and commented on it at the time.

During the rapidly accelerating spiral downward after 2012 and subsequent crumbling of my marriage via separation in 2015, the Lord Himself became my husband. He comforted me. He tenderly cared for me and brought me words of truth to carry me. I turned to Him in ways I've not ever experienced at any other time in my life. What transpired rendered me a completely different person than the one who went into this journey in 1993.  

After much prayer and confirmation via Scripture, seeking Godly counsel, and after long, looooong conversations with the Lord Himself over it all; I emerge confidently as someone fresh and new. Someone He has named. Someone who is truly a new creation. 

As unconventional as it may seem to some, I did not return to my maiden name. I hadn't been that person in almost 24 years, and I couldn't get my mind around trying to be her again -- even with a fresh start. Dissolution, disappointment, and prior financial debacles drove my decision to leave my married name behind.

In my 20's and way overdue, I was introduced to Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. We became fast friends, and I quickly devoured all things Anne with an "E" and watched all of the movies starring Megan Follows. I completely identified with Anne and soon learned in my research I was unequivocally a kindred spirit with Maud (as she was known by her friends and family) herself. Her style of descriptive writing appealed to me as a reader, but I also found myself embellishing with the best of her rambling style.

So, I have a feeling my kindred spirits reading will understand why in becoming a single again I chose to legally adopt the name Pamela Marie Montgomery. 

It's great to meet you! I look forward to sharing my messy with you and leaving a trail of beauty in the process.

*** This post will eventually only be housed in the "Perfectly Named" tab of my blog. Just thought I'd like to give a little background for everyone since we're all relatively new here.