Month: December 2023

When You HEAR the Voice of the LORD, ANSWER HIM!

Jeannette Elizabeth Geist-MarcelliLeave a comment

I was in my late teens–around 17-19 years old, when I thought having an experience of LITERALLY hearing the Voice of the LORD God like the Prophet Samuel did, would be an awesome experience. I prayed to the LORD to allow it to happen for quite some time, and one night, it happened…

I was dead asleep, and I awoke to a man’s voice calling my name out–“JEANNETTE MARCELLI”; JEANNETTE MARCELLI”–😯I suddenly woke up, and what I thought I was hearing in my dream, was LOUD and CLEAR in my bedroom!🫢I was stunned, to say the least!

But immediately, I remembered Samuel’s experience, and realized that the LORD was answering MY prayer!😀 I called out, repeating the same words that Samuel spoke–“Speak; for your servant hears you.” Once that happened, I thanked the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, for allowing me to hear His Voice. That was the only time (so far) in my life, that I audibly heard His Voice. But boy, was that some wake up call!😐😊✡️📖✝️🕊️💖

When I turned 19 years old, I was “officially” called into the ministry, in the office of a Prophet, and I reluctantly accepted the “position”. I knew what opposition there was going to be with family, friends, and whatever else the evil ones could throw at me, especially at such a young age, when you are trying to establish yourself in this world. I wanted to obey the LORD’s Voice, and do what was called of me to do…

But by the time I neared the end of my 20th year, I started turning down a road that was NOT where the Lord wanted me to go; I worried more about what relationships I was going to have, and foolishly spending my hard earned money, instead of saving and tithing it as I should have. Within the next 5 years, my life changed dramatically–I became an unwed mother, losing both of my parents to their diseases, stopped going to school because of poor life choices, and was stuck on a crooked road, nowhere near where the LORD wanted me to go, or to serve Him in the capacity I was supposed to.

It took the next 30+ years and two divorces plus moving here and there, for me to realize that the LORD God’s voice was the ONE voice I should have listened to, and OBEYED; He knew where He was leading me, but I didn’t trust Him enough to do what He called me to do. Even though I did end up serving Him in other capacities like in a church praise and worship team, or going on a few global outreaches, because of the crooked path I was on, and the relationships I got myself into, I was not able to be used of Him the way HE destined for me.

December of 2016, was the time He chose to give me yet another opportunity to serve Him, but THIS time, He made sure I realized it had to be ALL or NOTHING. I CHOSE to serve Him WHOLEHEARTEDLY (Deut. 10:12; 1 Chron. 28:9; Ps. 119:2; Jer. 24:7; Mark 12:30), because serving Him half-heartedly, while doing what I WANTED to do in this world, only got me into major trouble! So I surrendered ALL to Him that night during that very emotional, tearful, and heart-wrenching time of prayer and reflection…

That night, the LORD put me back on the RIGHT PATH He initially chose for me. It’s been 7 YEARS since then, and those who know me (esp during those “before” years), can see and hear the difference NOW, compared to who I used to be.

I am grateful that the LORD God gave me another chance at being His lowly servant. It has NOT been easy at all, and many things have been “lost”, especially some very beloved people in my life, because I CHOSE to serve the LORD God with all my HEART, SOUL, MIND and STRENGTH (Deut. 6:4-9), and obey the Shema–HEARING the Voice of the LORD, and answering the CALL (finally!) in my life that HE destined for me. No regrets here! I cannot wait for That Day to thank Him in Person!!🙏💖✡️📖✝️🕊️

IF YOU HEAR HIS VOICE CALLING YOUR NAME–ANSWER HIM!!🙏💖✡️📖✝️🕊️

What’s In a Name, Especially a Family Name?

Jeannette Elizabeth Geist-MarcelliLeave a comment

When I did my Ancestry search back in May of 2018, mainly because I am ADOPTED, I was hoping to find some siblings and other family members. I always left this part of my life, in the Lord’s hands, and figure IF and WHEN He wanted me to know anything about my biological family members, it would happen as HE willed it. I received the DNA test kit as a Mother’s Day gift that year (2018), and I knew it was time to find out whatever there was for me to discover about my family-good, bad, or otherwise.

One of the (many) blessings was finding family members who were alive and well, and willing to converse with me, either after I reached out to THEM, or they first reached out to ME.

One of those siblings happened to be my brother Chris on my bio father’s side. We met, and after a few years when I finally had a bit of time between school and moving, I wanted to finally change my name back to my maiden (family) name. I thought of incorporating my biological father’s name of GEIST in there, because it IS my family name, and it suits me exactly to WHO I am in Christ—GEIST = “ghost/spirit” in German. Many people a century or two ago with the GEIST name, would have a dove representing the HOLY SPIRIT, somewhere in their house, because of the association with their family name.

Anyone who knows me, and who I am in Christ, and being the servant of God that I am for Him, can easily see how much that was a “God Wink” connection between me and my family name.

So with the approval and blessing from my brother Chris, I took the last name and incorporated it into what would become my official name:
JEANNETTE -what my name was changed to (named after Jeannette DiCapua/DeMaio-my Nana), after I was officially adopted a year and a half after I was born, and was called:

My Godparents Bill and Helen (The “Elizabeth” name is cut out on the top)

ELIZABETH-my ORIGINAL birth name given to me by my biological mother Doris, before giving me up for adoption; so I took that name, and made it my MIDDLE name; taking that name of Elizabeth and using it as a middle name, allowed me to ❤️honor the woman who, despite many issues she had in her life, decided to give me life, and bless a family who could not have children, with a child. (McGRAW is my bio mom’s maiden family name)
GEIST—my biological name of my father, Robert, who I found out by my brother (and I actually have another brother Robert, who was named after our father) Chris, that he was a great ☺️dad, and an awesome cook!😋 Chris loved the idea of me using the family name, and that made it possible to honor my biological father that way.

MARCELLI—Rose and Ralph Marcelli tried to have children, but after a time, decided that it was not God’s will, and became foster parents. I was their third foster child they took in by Mid-March of 1965, after spending a couple of weeks in the hospital as “little orphan Elizabeth”😏; they already had two boys that were with them almost a year at that time, and desperately wanted a girl.
Ralph and Rose went through way too much red tape in this awful, demoncratic state (even way back then!) of NJ, to try and adopt me; they finally got the “green light” in September, 1966 to call me their own. After a year and a half of having to call me “Elizabeth/Lisa”, they finally changed my name to “Jeannette”. I was an official member of the Marcelli family, at least to them.
The MARCELLI surname means the world to me; THESE are the people who took me into their home, gave me their love, disciplined me, raised me to be a decent human being, treated me like their own flesh and blood child. I sure didn’t appreciate it all back when I was in my younger years (they both died within six months of each other, when I was 25/26 yrs old), but I miss them terribly now. I honor them by KEEPING the MARCELLI name alive and well. I may not have been a flesh and blood “Marcelli”, but I DID find out (and my parents would be THRILLED 😄😁at this!) via Ancestry a few years ago, that I DO have Italian blood in me, and —another God Wink—my ancestors are from around the SAME AREA😃as the Marcelli’s were (Naples)! How’s that for a GOD-MATCHED, HOLY SPIRIT INSPIRED adoption?😉😄😁😏

Ralph and Rose Marcelli’s Wedding-September 17, 1960

Some may wonder why, after being divorced, and able to go back to my maiden name, why I would go that extra step and take all FOUR names—JEANNETTE ELIZABETH GEIST-MARCELLI—yes, it’s a mouthful, but there is MEANING behind each name.

Jeannette (female name for JOHN)-YOHANNAN-“God is gracious”, from Yah-the shortened name of the LORD, and the verb “hanan”, to be gracious. Obviously, this name is found all over the Scriptures, such as John the Baptist, John the Apostle, the father of Simon and Andrew, etc.

Elizabeth-the Hebrew name ELISHEVA (Ex. 6:23; Luke 1:5). The name is made up of two parts-the first (Eli) is “my God” and the second (sheva) is the number of holy attributes: “seven”. Put it together, and you get, “My God of the Seventh” (sounds like “sabbath-which is a holy day to be recognized by the LORD God).

Another meaning for that name “sheva” is “swear”, which I’ve seen mostly as “My God is my Oath/Promise”; also, “(In) My God (I) swear”.

Elizabeth = Elisheva and John = Yohannan

So there you go. A bit of a long explanation why I took my original birth name, both first and last, and incorporated it into my adopted first and last name—to give both sets of parents the honor due THEM, and to also recognize what the LORD GOD was trying to tell ME (finally), when that spiritual 💡💡lightbulb finally switched “on” fully, to understand WHO I AM in HIM. I am His DAUGHTER, one of many, and His SERVANT, because I finally (back in 2016) said “YES” to wholeheartedly following Him, hence the “title” if you will, on the address label.

So when I send out a birthday, Christmas, or some other type of card, or have to pay a bill, or whatever other type of correspondence that I have to make, my NEW address labels state THIS (and some of you have actually received something from me with the label ON it):

Servant of the Most High God
Jeannette Elizaabeth Geist-Marcelli

That is my WHOLE name; please use it, whenever you send correspondence to me. It means the world to me, because those who gave me LIFE, and those who RAISED me, meant the world to me, even though two of them, I never got to meet in this life. But I sure do appreciate what they did for me.

Thank you for reading this—I realize it was a longer post than usual.

Maybe you, the reader, should take the time and look up what the meaning of your names are; you may😉end up being quite surprised😄like I was!☺️