What a difference a year makes...

Today I got out in the yard and "winterized" the flower beds. I never look forward to this job. Once September hits I am usually ready to be done with the yard. But, I got rid of all the dead flowers and made one last bouquet of roses that were still hanging on through the cold. While ripping out spent annuals and hacking the heck out of perennials my mind returned to last year at this time.

Last year I remember crying my way through this job. It was just over a year ago that we left our old church. It was a difficult year. This church thing caused divisions in my family that I never thought were possible. But a year later, today, I gloried in God's grace. God has healed so many of the rifts in my family. We are connecting at our new church. It is an alive place and new people are accepting Jesus as their Savior every week.

The song I clung to (and I mean it when I say I sang it over and over and over) during this time was Blessed be the name of the Lord (Tree 63)

Blessed be your name
In the land that is plentiful
Where the streams of abundance flow
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
When I'm found in the desert place
Though I walk through the wilderness
Blessed be your name

Every blessing you pour out,I turn back to praise
When the darkness closes in, Lord Still I will say...

Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your name
Blessed be the name of the Lord
Blessed be your glorious name

Blessed be your name
When the sun's shining down on me
When the world's all as it should be
Blessed be your name

Blessed be your name
On the road marked with suffering
Though there's pain in the offering
Blessed be your name

You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name

When I sang that today as I was working my eyes filled with tears for the fact that God has brought me through the road marked with suffering and there was pain in the offering. My heart is still choosing to say, "Blessed be your name" even though I am beginning to feel His streams of abundance rather than the desert place.

Make the choice today to choose to say this to God. "You give and take away, but my heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name!"