The Story
The name was given,
not chosen.
This ministry was not planned. It was planted.
“The Lord will work out his plans for my life; your faithful love, O Lord, endures forever. Don’t abandon me, for you made me.” Psalm 138:8
I didn’t choose this name. It found me, or more honestly, it was given to me.
For weeks I had been searching. I was praying about what to call this ministry, exploring dozens of names, looking for the one that would finally feel right. Some were close. None were complete. So I did what I probably should have done first. I stopped trying to figure it out and asked God to show me.
Three Confirmations
Each one I didn’t manufacture. I just noticed.
On a walk in the city
The first sign came on a walk in Panama City. I had been sitting with names for days when I turned a corner and there it was, a purple lily growing right in front of me. I didn’t manufacture that moment. I just noticed it.
At the airport restaurant
My flight was delayed, so I walked to a small Italian restaurant nearby. Halfway through my meal I looked down at the decoration on my table. A purple lily. Every other table had pink flowers. Every single one, except mine. And tucked into the corner of the restaurant, a Bible.
In a mountain church
On the first morning of my prayer retreat in Boquete, I walked into a Sunday service. On the stage was a purple cloth draped across the cross, and a bouquet of lilies at the front. Purple on the cross. Lilies beneath it. By that point I had stopped looking. The name had already been given.
And then, as if one more confirmation was needed, I found my retreat venue. After a difficult start to my time in Boquete, I was redirected to a property run by a Christian woman who loves hosting retreats, with lily of the valley and purple flowers growing throughout the grounds. I didn’t plan any of it. None of it was my idea.
That is the story of Purple Lily. Not a brand I built from strategy, but a name I was given, confirmed in the streets of Panama City, in a restaurant at an airport, in a church in the mountains, and in a garden full of flowers I didn’t plant.
What It Means
Purple and lily, held together
Purple means royalty
In scripture it is the color of the Proverbs 31 woman, of Lydia who built the first church in Europe with her business, of the robe placed on Jesus at the cross, mockingly by soldiers who didn’t realize they were declaring the truth. He was the King.
Lily means Christ
In Song of Solomon 2:1, He describes Himself as the lily of the valleys. Not a flower on a mountaintop, but one that blooms low, in the hidden and hard places, in the exact valley where you find yourself right now.
Together they mean this: you are more royal than you know, and the King is already present in the very place you thought disqualified you.
“Like a lily among thorns is my darling among the young women.” Song of Solomon 2:2