There’s something about Mary Magdalene’s story that feels so personal to me.

Jesus had already changed her life. He had delivered her, and from that point on, she followed Him.

But what gets me most is what happened at the tomb.

Mary went looking for Jesus while it was still dark. She was grieving. She didn’t understand what was happening, and when Jesus stood right in front of her, she didn’t even recognize Him.

Until He said her name.

“Mary.”

And immediately, she knew Him.

I love that part!

There have been times in my life when pain, fear, survival, or simply everything happening around me made it hard to see what God was doing or recognize that he was right there.

For years, there were parts of my story that felt bigger than who I was. Things that happened to me. Things I survived. Choices I made. Versions of myself I needed at one point just to make it through.

But God knows all of it.

He knows every version of me that existed before this one.

And He still calls her by name.

Angelica.

Not by what happened to me.

Not by my worst decision.

Not by someone else’s opinion of me.

Not by the season I barely survived.

By my name.

Mary Magdalene reminds me that Jesus didn’t just deliver her from her past. He gave her purpose beyond it.

The woman who once needed to be set free became the woman Jesus trusted to say:

“I have seen the Lord.”

I don’t have to be ashamed of every version of myself that came before this one.

God knows where I’ve been.

He knows who I’m becoming.

And through every chapter, He still knows my name.