He Knows Your Name | Linda Znachko

our first responsibility. I think if you're a father and you report to God for duty, he says, oh, let's see, looks like you're married and you have children. That's your first responsibility of ministry. And if you're doing that, well, probably the rest of your life will turn out well also. Hmm.

you as one of those people. Have you seen that same thing through the years?

great trait, you know. And you're right, the interview we're going to do today is with a lady who has done just that. Uh, so I'm excited about our program today. I think our listeners are going to be encouraged, and I think many of them, hopefully, are going to be more open to what God may want them to step into as they encounter life as it folds out for them.

Inspired Me to Say Yes to God. You can find out more about it at Building relationships.us.

And when I saw the breaking news story on the news, it what overwhelmed me was I needed to do something that I felt the conviction deep in my soul that this was. Really an injustice. And I was like, I can make a phone call, you know? So I think if we are honest, when we look at the problems we face, we could say, yeah, there is an enormity to them and I could never possibly tackle all of them. And so instead of going numb or retreating and throwing

my hands up and saying, therefore, I'll do nothing. I think we can say, what's the something I can do? And so I would want your listeners overall to be listening with an ear of invitation this morning. How is God inviting me into an assignment that maybe has my name on it, that only I can do something about in my little way? And I thought for me it was a little phone call. I didn't have the vision

for all that the last 15 years has held. And so yeah, I think that when we hear the news and we're overwhelmed, ask God if that's a conviction, you know, or is it just overwhelm? Because I think generally there's a way for us to say then the next thing, what is mine here? Is there something that has my name on it that I can do something about?

honestly was not looking for anything to do. And I was. The last thing I was going to do was start a ministry that just wasn't even in my wheelhouse of thinking. And so when I saw this picture come on my screen, as we all do, we're all in front of screens. We see the pictures and the caution tape is across a parking lot and people are milling around and there's a ladder going inside a dumpster, and I see the corner climbing in and the sirens are going, you know,

it's very compelling. How could I not watch this? And I thought, what's happening here? You know, and all of a sudden the news voice comes over it. Breaking story baby Doe found in a dumpster wearing only a diaper. I was so frozen. What? What happens to a baby? And I felt the Lord lean in and say, get that answer. And so I called the coroner's office, which, you know, you have to know. I don't know the coroner. I've never talked to a corner, and I don't even

have their phone number right in my contacts. The woman on the phone was gracious, but she said, um, we don't really have a plan. You know, the baby will be put in a mass grave if the criminal investigation doesn't turn up DNA samples, and we find the mom and the dad, the criminal investigation will just kind of end and fizzle away. And I was like, what do you mean? A mass grave? This is the 21st century in the most resource country in the world. We have

those still. And she started saying, yeah, it's like a pauper's grave. And I was like, I don't get like. So the the next injustice was unraveling very quickly, you know? And I was like, hold on a minute. I just buried my mom six months ago, and we chose the most beautiful pink suit for her, her favorite jewelry. My father and I designed a headstone for her. We chose the scripture, the songs, the beautiful place where she would be laid to rest. She is a child of God

and so is this baby. And this baby must have a name because doe is not a name and a dumpster is not a grave, and a diaper is not burial clothing. And it was like as soon as I said it, I knew it was God flipping the economy of the world's picture of this. And he gave me his view and his picture. And then I knew the assignment was mine. And I said, I don't know how many people have called. And she said, you're the only one that's called. And I felt goosebumps go all over

my body. And I thought, this is heaven opening over me like, this is for me. And I didn't have language for assignments at the time or like really much of calling other than like, I'm a follower of Jesus, which of course I am banner over me. But I kind of thought this was an episodic situation. I mean, I'm like, I've never heard of anything like this before. And I said, I really want to do something for this baby. Please put my name on the case, I

mean it, and how can I track this story? And she's like, well, we'll call you or you can just call and track it. And so I did. I called the coroner's office every Friday morning for 13 months. Well, a lot happened in the meantime, but I'll wrap up this one picture at the end. They said to me, we have found the mother. And all throughout those 13 months, the media would revisit that story and they would demonize the mom. Everyone just suspected that was the mom that

threw the baby away. And abandonment is criminal. And so it was kind of like, you know, yeah, give her the worst. They said, no, it wasn't the mom. A funeral home director illegally disposed of the baby. And now there will be a criminal investigation against him. But we no longer need the baby as evidence. So then they asked me if I wanted to meet the mother.

Why do you want to talk to me? And I was like, no, I, I've just been I've loved your baby for 13 months, and I've just had this passion to give you and your baby a funeral. And she's like, well, I can't afford that. And I just explained to her that I was wanting to, you know, invite my community and her family to come and give her baby a celebration of life. And so that's what we did. And

my community came together. Hers came, her family came, and we had a beautiful time of celebration around the grave. That is the really. The legacy on Nicholas's life is he knows your name in history. But in the process of that 13 months, the graciousness of God was that as I was calling the coroner's office, I was meeting people and talking to people, and I was building relationship. And as God would have it, we know God how important relationships are to God. And my conversations every Friday

morning got longer and longer with the people there. And one time when I called, you know, I spoke with the receptionist and she had told me that she was battling breast cancer. And so I prayed for her. And then, you know, another time someone else answered the phone and I prayed for them and talked to them. And another morning I called and they said, we were just going to call you. And I said, you never call me. What were you going to call me about? And they said,

we have another baby. And I was like, wait a second, you know? And I said, I got to call you back. And they said, well, wait, we just wondered if since your organization will take care of this baby, would your organization take care of that baby? And I said, um, that's what I need to pray about. And I got off the phone and wept in my car in a parking lot. And I just was so baffled. And I was like, Lord, what is this? You know, is this

the baby I'm supposed to take care of? But then the other baby is going to be taken like, I don't know. And he just said, no, this isn't you are this is an organization. And right now it's just you, but it's you and me and it's he knows your name. And so from then on, I accepted everything that came my way as the Lord laid a blueprint for my ministry out for that whole first year that everything I

did from buying headstones for families of loss. Um, everything was coming out of my relationship at the coroner's office because I was learning about more and more needs, and I just had no idea that I was going to school. On what grief in families look like from all the way from infant loss to child loss. And I was being I was being connected. And the the coroner has a heart for families and her love of the Lord.

And I mean, we just clicked as sisters and we just really got a lot done through that first really big year of waiting for Baby Nicholas.

that first year or two. You know, I was starting to get calls because the media was coming to my stories and telling stories about families and what was happening, and the media was starting to call me and say, hey, there was a bus accident. A five year old died. The mom doesn't know what to do, and I just thought maybe you we'd want her phone number and you could call her and help her. And I just started getting connected deeper and deeper into situations in the city.

And really, that's what my book is so much about, is just how those first five years of the stories, I mean, the stories were just one was more different than the next. But at the core it was, how do I give honor and dignity and death and celebrate life for a baby or a child at the grave and invite strangers to come and be spiritual family and do church without walls at the grave and realize that

the greatest miracle was performed there. And so there's nothing to fear at the grave, because it's an opportunity for legacy to be birthed, healing to be birthed, and closure for families. And these are all under-resourced families who couldn't afford anything and to give them the gift of joy and honor and see their child memorialized, um, and celebrated by so many people in the city, was more than they ever could have imagined. It's just God's upside down economy for healing.

have done on my best day. I'm not a business person, and yet the wisdom I have, I mean, honestly, someone who owns the more land in Indiana than anybody with a huge cemetery and funeral home business said, you know, we we are learning so much from you and your marketing skills. And I was like, what?

I think is appropriate to do. Let me join you in the celebration of your child or loved one. And, um, I leave feeling like I just was in the presence of the Lord and the Holy Spirit carried me. And that is never overwhelming, and that is never anything I want to run away from. I want to run to it. And even when I talk in my book about avoiding suffering and pain, I did not think in a million years that I would have been healed by being among

those who are also suffering. And I think generally the Christian life, you know, people avoid suffering and they think that we can escape it and pay for it away and, uh, you know, plan a vacation and run here and run there and do this and do that. And I realized that, oh, actually, long suffering and suffering is the heart of Jesus. And

when you're near it, you're near him. And I like to say to that like it's a sacred suffering and there's a holiness at the grave because miracles are performed there, and life comes from the grave in a resurrected power of legacy and love and relationship and honor and dignity that I don't think you can find anywhere else.

And so I called the cemetery and I was like, how do you go about doing this? And they told me and I was like, that's easy enough. Okay, yeah, I'll do that. But I want to tell the mom myself, I want to meet her because a lot of what I do, I don't end up meeting families as my ministry has gone on. But I show up at the coroner's office and I was talking to the coroner while I was there, and her assistant came in and said, the family is in the conference room, but they're not

in the small conference room. They're in the big conference room. And Alfie said, oh, okay, well, tell them we'll be right up. And I was like, hold on. I thought I was just meeting a mom and why are we in a conference room? Why can't we just be here in your office? And she said, I don't know, it sounds like it's a family came and I was like, okay. Like, who's a part of her family? All right. And upstairs we go and the door opens. It's the largest conference

table I've ever seen. And the room is packed with people, like at least four generations of people, and they're all just staring at me, and I don't look like anyone in the room, you know? And so I have my Bible, and they were like, they point to the head of the conference table, and they're like, here, you sit here and I sit down and I have my Bible, and I'm looking around and I'm like, I want to tell them that I'm going to just I'm going to do

this headstone for them. This like to me, easy little thing. But to them you would have said I was buying everyone in the room a car. That's how big of a deal this was. And I said, well, before we get started, please tell me about Tim. And the open whaling began and the stories went through four generations, from the littlest child in the room to the grandma and the great grandma. And I was sitting there like, I did not bargain for this. I did not know that

I was going to walk into this emotional room. And and then I said, yes, I will, I'd love to do this for him. And they they just couldn't they almost couldn't receive it. And the humility over this family was so incredible. And so that was the first headstone I purchased for, um, a child. But because he was 13 and he was at the public parks pool, he the park there, I mean, in like the, you know,

it's nearly 100% African American. And black children die from drowning at an exponentially high rate compared to white kids. And there's no, like, no swim lessons really offered at the park and all this. And so a year after that child's, well, his anniversary anniversary, I had gotten together with Indy Parks and the mom, and we established a scholarship foundation, and we have had free swim lessons for one week for that whole community of kids every year

for eight years. And, um, that is his legacy. And I, because I started seeing was people keep talking about Tim like he's an event, like his death was an event. And it's the last thing we have to talk about when we talk about Tim. And I was like, there's no redemption in that. Talking about the drowning over and over and over again. Let's talk about his swim lessons.

Let's talk about his legacy. Let's talk about how we can change a whole community by having those kids get in the water and their moms come and everyone gets comfortable around a pool and learns how to swim and float and do the necessity like of understanding water safety. And it just what made perfect sense to me was something that had never been done before. And I, I learned so much through Tim's legacy, the opportunity for legacy,

the importance of legacy. And now I look for legacy on every single child's life that I have had the opportunity to celebrate. I mean, just last week, I buried two more babies and I have buried now 52 babies in 15 years, um, that have been either unclaimed at funeral homes, the coroner's office or hospitals that are 20 plus weeks gestation. I look at every one of them as an opportunity to see more come from the event. And change the event and talk about life.

I thought, oh, I'm going to name her Amelia. And I called the coroner and I said, I want this baby, and I want to claim her. I already know her name. And they said, yes, we're probably going to discharge her within ten days. And they had reasons why they were doing that so quickly. The criminal investigation just wasn't going to be a deal. And so I claimed her named her Amelia. And as I prayed about her name, I looked it up and it means defender. And I asked God,

you know, what is she going to defend? Because defenders capitalized in the Bible as a name of God's character. Like, what is her anointing going to be? Since I'm naming her after God and I felt my spirit rise quickly to the safe haven law, and I thought, well, how could that be? We have that in every state and and in here in Indiana. It came into law in the year 2000. I don't really get this, but okay. And then at her grave, we had a huge celebration

of life for her. I mean, the city just poured into the chapel, standing room only. The procession was longer than I could even see with people, and I stood at the grave. I had just placed her in with the groundsman and everyone was throwing flowers on top, and I got a tap on my shoulder and I turned around and this woman said, I'm Monica Kelsey. And that is a problem and I have the solution. And she said, I am working with someone to write legislation for the

Safe Haven Baby Box law. Will you come to the statehouse and give testimony and prove to them that abandonment is criminal and it's real, and she is not a statistic? And I said, sign me up. Get I can't get there fast enough. Right. And so Monica was in the very beginning stages of her ministry with Safe Haven Baby Box, collaborating with her, going to the statehouse, giving testimony, seeing the entire statehouse unanimously passing that law here was incredible.

And what I did when I went to give testimony was I had taken copies, um, of her footprint and took 200 pages of foot footprint on pages, you know, and I handed them out when I got there. And then I brought her little mini temporary headstone, which weighed five plus pounds. And I passed it around and I said she actually weighed exactly what this piece of marble weighs. She was real. And when I picked up her casket to carry it in the chapel, I felt the weight

of her in there. And I said, Lord, I feel her. And he said, of course you do. Honor weighs a lot. And I was like, oh my gosh, this honoring life and carrying her in and then putting her, celebrating her with the community. But when I shared that at the statehouse, I did not realize that Monica Kelsey took that picture of her footprint home and put it on her desk.

And then months later, when it was time for her to start drafting a picture of the logo for the Safe Haven baby box, she called me and said, can I use her footprint as the logo? And I said, absolutely. And so Amelia's footprint is the logo of that box. And that box, you know, is sitting in 219 places in our country, um, 121 of them in Indiana. I mean, there are over ten states that now have passed this law, and we have had 43 babies safely surrendered under that law.

And they've been retrieved from this box that can be opened from the outside of the fire station by a mom anonymously. The babies put in a climate controlled bassinet inside. She closes the box, walks away, and then the babies retrieved from the inside of the building and given immediate medical care. And these babies have received medical care in

60 to 90s. And then they're rushed right to the hospital, where someone who's in the foster care system and wants to adopt a baby will get a phone call and say, do you want a safe haven baby box baby? And these babies are all being adopted and it is the greatest option. And it's the greatest, I think, initiative we have in our state and now country to bring down infant mortality, which is too high, and it is a

rescue option for moms in crisis and for babies. And it's saving lives and it's working well.

placenta and umbilical cord and all. And these brave moms who've chosen life, chosen to carry, have also chosen to probably give birth by themselves somewhere and wrap that baby in whatever they have, and give that baby a future and a life and a future family who's been praying for that child, you know, um, has been just had an answered prayer and gets to come to the E.R. and see the baby. I mean, it's just incredible. The stories are will just make you weep.

the country. Um, and what I love to hear is that people call me and say, well, I'm a nurse in Washington State and I take care of bereavement, and I have a vision to do x, y, z here. How can I do that? What do you what do you think my next step should be? And I give her encouragement. I give her a next step. And next thing you know, this woman is changing the world in Washington state, um, for bereavement and care in hospitals. And

then it just keeps going and going and going. And so I love that she took her vocation as a nurse and turned it into influence and impact in her community. And that's that's what I love to see, born out of people's ambition for the holiness of this calling, because there are so many different ways to go, like giving honor and dignity to life. And it's as simple also as, I mean, this is my call to action in regard to, like I mentioned, unclaimed babies. There's also unclaimed adults at

funeral homes in the coroner's office by the hundreds. And this is just something no one can get their head around. And I get it. But with cremation up 60% in the last five years, people are choosing cremation, like at a funeral home, and then they're not coming to pick up. And I want to say to people, please have the conversation around your dinner table like so, you know, after so and so's funeral. And where's grandma? Where's Uncle Joe?

Like who went and picked up? Because after with all my work with the coroner's office and funeral homes, I have come to realize that there's also. I can claim all the babies. And I'm doing that, but they're like, we have a huge problem with adults here unclaimed. And our coroner's office here in Marion County is moving. And they said, we cannot take these 200 plus unclaimed remains with us. And so we worked for two years to

come up with a solution. And I said, I will have a memorial service for them, and I will plan this, but only to model to you how it's done so that next year you have something in your budget that allows you to do the same thing. And that's what the we're doing. The Marion County Coroner's Office is now in year three of putting this in place. So the first year I laid to rest 173 unclaimed remains that were all adults. Yeah. And then the next June, 55

more and then another 75. And it's like, we have got to realize that we are not honoring human life in so many ways. And the trickle down effect of it is people are just finding it inconvenient to go back. Like, I just buried a man, George, that was unclaimed in Hamilton County, and I think he had a family member. So somewhere else in the country, and they got a hold of him and he said, I didn't ever even know him. I can't leave my job and come and

do this. And so he stayed unclaimed. And so I buried him in, in not, not even two years between funeral homes and the coroner's office, I've laid to rest and honored over 700 adults. So, like opening this up and exposing it has been gigantic in the funeral home industry and the coroner's industry. And the coroner here in Indianapolis is on the International and National Coroner's Association committee.

And she is telling everyone about this, because we've got to deal with this as a country and say, we don't just leave people in hiding in a basement somewhere like that is just not acceptable. These are God's children. And if we are going to give, this is how I felt at the beginning. If I'm going to give my mother a beautiful funeral that I think she deserves,

then I believe we need to give everyone. And as we talk about Memorial Day, and I love what a lot of funeral homes do for veterans, they honor them and make sure that they are taken care of in death. But it's like, what about everybody else? There's like hundreds and hundreds. It's just something I want to expose. And one of the things I'm so thankful for is the media exposure from like, Baby Amelia and Safe Haven Baby

Box to this kind of situation. The media is at all my press conferences, and I'm able to give this call to action, and I'm using media as my education arm to raise awareness and educate on all these really big, these big like epidemic problems, social issues, and try to get them changed. But it happens one person at a time. Like please ask your family, do we have anyone who's been left behind? And when we make that call to action, we have had reunification happen at funeral homes where people

are like, oh, I didn't know. And so they've come back. But I'm saying that's one or 2 or 3 out of a 200, you know.

their name. I work with several organizations that provide repurposed wedding gowns made into baby burial gowns, and so I always select a beautiful gown for the child and sing a lullaby over the baby. I believe every baby needs a lullaby and inviting strangers to come. I always put an event on Facebook and invite the community to come. And people are people come and it's beautiful to see a gathering around an open grave. Um, and I, I

love to, um, cast vision for heaven. Um, because I believe the truth from God's word, um, has promises in

it that I can claim over the child's life. What I say is that the child will see the loving face of their father and will be given a mansion in the holy city, will receive nourishment from the mouth of God, and will sit in the lap of light, wrapped in a royal garment, and will eat from a banquet table, and will drink from a flowing well of living water, and be warmed by the hovering of the Holy Spirit, and will stand in the presence of their

Savior forever and ever. And when I do that, I know in casting vision for heaven, I am sharing the gospel for everyone there. And it's an opportunity to. Of course, I don't know most of the people and I don't know where they stand with Jesus, but I just know that everyone who came came for a reason and they all need Jesus. I need Jesus every day. And so realizing that standing before an empty grave creates an opportunity to have everyone, like, feel their mortality and it's easy

to confront that there. And we have beautiful moments at the grave, um, where I can share the gospel.

need to talk to somebody who understands this diagnosis. Because she was being told to terminate and she was 25 weeks pregnant and just couldn't wrap her mind around that. Her husband was back in South Africa on work, and she was very alone. And I caught her little message. You know, the Lord. Like, out of all my messages, you know, it was like that one just stood out and I said, please email me. And she did right away. And then we did a FaceTime and I was able

to coach her through making a decision. She ended up going into labor. Um, but her baby was diagnosed with trisomy 18 and she didn't know what that was. And I've been able to take care of a lot of families here in the States with that diagnosis. And I just held her hand through that all the way across the pond, so to speak, you know, in Ireland. And when she went to her hospital and professional, you know, medical care team, um, they really weren't sure what to

do for her either. And I was able to coach the bereavement team and different parts of people involved in her life at the hospital about what they could do for this family. And, um, she asked me to name her baby, and I named the her little girl at Gabriel. It was just the most beautiful connection. And I thought, you know, Instagram and all the things we can say all day long, like social media is blah, blah, blah, right? Negative, whatever.

And yet it it has been a connection place for me across the globe many times for moms who are in other countries who, um, have a lot of questions and they're seeing what I'm doing, and it just raises their heart for, oh, I want that kind of honor for my baby. And I've been so thankful for that.

might have for them. So thanks for being with us again today.