By Cindi Ingersoll, Highland 2nd Ward
When I was expecting my fifth baby, there was one question everyone kept asking…”Is it a boy or a girl?’ The truth was, we didn’t know. No one took a guess and no one had “a feeling” either way, including myself and my husband. As I neared my delivery date, my husband’s grandfather, David Grant passed away. He lived in a small house right by our house. On the morning he died, I was walking through the garden path between his house and ours. During that walk, I knew through the power of the Holy Ghost that I was having a boy and that his name should be Aaron David.
It was a powerful personal revelation. I knew it as surely as if I had always known it. There was no doubt in my mind-only complete peace and certainty. Five days later, Aaron David was born.
I pondered that experience for years. I often wondered why it was important that he receive that particular name. Then one day after Primary, Aaron came home and told me he knew why he had been named David. His teacher had explained that the name David means “ beloved.” I think he felt especially loved at that moment. I agreed that he truly was a beloved David! Yet I continued to ponder the deeper meaning of that experience.
When Aaron was 18 years old, he received his patriarchal blessing. Earlier that day, while serving in the temple, I had offered a short prayer that we might know whether there was special significance to his being named Aaron David. The patriarch did not know our family, nor did he know anything about my experience years earlier.
The patriarchal blessing states in the 2nd paragraph, “It is not by accident that you were named Aaron David”. Several other references throughout the blessing also mention his names and their significance in his life. In that moment, I knew that my prayers had been answered, but more importantly I knew that God knew Aaron David’s name.
This experience has become a testimony to me of that God knows each of us by name. He knows Aaron’s name. He knows my name. He knows your name.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell said: “God has known you individually for a long, long time. He has loved you for a long, long time. He not only knows the names of all the names of all the stars. He knows your names and all your heartaches and joys!”
I also testify that God knows our names. He is our Father. He is aware of us. He loves us. And because He knows us individually, He can guide, strengthen and bless us in deeply personal ways.