Blessed Be Your Name

God keeps bringing me back to Job 1:21 "The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD."

My first time crashing against this verse came when I was newly pregnant with my first daughter. I excitedly shared our joy in Sunday school class. People congratulated and I beamed.

Then, after the celebrating settled down, a friend next to us shared about how they'd just lost their baby. No one knew what to say or how to respond.

The dad turned to me and said, "The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be His name."

I will never forget that tear-filled, bittersweet moment when Job 21:1 became life before my eyes.

Then I stood in the place where other's celebrated babies and I grieved losing my third child. It took a long time to lift my face to heaven and remember God's goodness.

And now, God has me crashing against this verse again. Only this time it's a theme verse for Healing Promises. Because the book was nothing like my life story, I was slow to grasp why God kept putting this verse from Job in front of my face.

Then I got it.

The essence of Sara and Clint's story is mine. In a time of suffering, can I echo Job's words and bless the name of the Lord?

For a long time the answer has been, "No."

At the end of my emotional resources and feeling very broken by life circumstances, God asked me the question again this morning. I answered with a question of my own~ Do You really love me?

Because one touch from God and my body would be healed.

One word from God and painful relationships would be restored.

One whisper from God and everyone would know about my writing.

But after I got done with my little speech about all the things above and more that I don't understand what God is doing, He simply answered my questions with all I needed to know.

Over and over I heard the words from Jeremiah 31:3 "I have loved you with an everlasting love."

Over and over His answer came until all I could do is cry and everything else disappeared.

Because everything else wasn't the point.

When you get down to the messy realities of life, God's love is all that matters.

My circumstances may never change, and this morning I had to lay some heart-wrenching things down before the Lord and leave them there. I can't control them. I can't change them. I can't fix them. I can't make them work.

God whispered a final word to my heart this morning. One that offered the strength I desperately needed...

Believe.

But God's question still hung in the air unanswered. He'd answered mine. And now I could answer His.

Yes, Lord. Though the road is marked with suffering, blessed be Your Name.