Tonight while worshipping the Great Creator, we sang Blessed Be the Name of the LORD. This week has been such a blessing from Abba; I have been filled with His peace and stillness in my soul and He has abundantly given me joy to reside with the sorrow in my heart. He has given me joy in the midst of pain, and I am SO grateful. As we sang “You give and take away” I was pondering how true that is. He IS blessed and great and WORTHY to be praised no matter what I’m going through. He is AWEsome no matter what trials and joys I encounter. He gives me great blessings, gifts, talents, and community, but He also takes away those very things. He gives me passions, desires, and dreams, but He also sometimes takes away those opportunities to remind me that He is the One who gave me those dreams, passions, gifts, desires, and the community in the first place! It’s ALL His, and He uses this giving and taking away to remind me that He is in control and that He is doing what is BEST for me. That may not be what I want, but it IS what I need. My prayer tonight is that you and I may trust Abba to know what He’s doing, to have faith that He gives and takes away for His own purposes to make us into the people after His heart that He desires. My prayer is that we all may grow more and more like Him, that we may know Him better and be known by Him better. My prayer is that He may fulfill the deepest longings of our hearts, for it is then that we find joy and fulfillment in whatever circumstances we face. We find purpose in all things — the giving AND the taking away — as part of His perfect plan.