You Give and Take Away

Last Sunday we celebrated the BFA graduates, said goodbye to departing missionaries, and thanked Pastor Harrop, also leaving after 7 years in the pulpit at BFCF.  The first song we sang was “Blessed Be Your Name”.  “You give and take away, You give and take away.”  Those words clearly express what is happening here in Kandern as we finish this school year.

For the seniors, departing missionaries, and the Harrop family, God has given much.  He has given a safe place to live and work and learn.  A place to grow in faith.  A place to make life-long friends.  A place, at least for some, to call home.  In all He has given to them, He is now taking away those friends, that home, the security.  Yet regardless of life changes as they leave, He will never take away the relationship He has given each one with Him.  He will also give the strength and the courage to move forward into new works, new ventures, new friends, new educational arenas.  And in all that He will give, He will give more of Himself to those who trust Him.

The song spoke to me about my own sojourn here in Kandern.  For Smitty and I to get here, God took away our family, our friends, our home, our church, and our country.  He took from me security in things and people and places, and, in return, gave me an international heart with friends in England, Ireland, Hungary, France, and across the world.  He gave me a third floor apartment which overlooks the town and the forest.  I have grown in security, not in myself, but in my Heavenly Father who has met me every time I called out to Him. God has responded by giving me peace, joy, and answered prayer.  I have learned to cry more (If that’s possible), pray more, love more, have people into my home more.  He has given me the opportunity to blog, to write, which I have always wanted to do, but never felt I could do.  Most of all the Lord has given me His deep and abiding presence in a way I have never before experienced.

God does give and take away.  I picture the scales of justice dipping down or rising up, depending on the weights of each side.  God gives far more that He ever takes; the scales are always in my favor.    What He takes is never as lovely as what He gives in return.  Truth for me, graduates, missionaries, pastors, all who call Him Lord.  Blessed be the name of the Lord!