You Give and Take Away...

One of the praise songs we sing at church has a phrase in it...

You give and take away.


You give and take away.


My heart will choose to say.


Lord, blessed be your name.


At different points in my life, these words have had different meanings.

And I find that this weekend, they have a new meaning for me once again.

Friday afternoon, I came home, happy but tired. It was finally Friday. I had accomplished a lot (winding up the school year...one week to go!).  I was ready for a relaxing evening at home because I knew my weekend would be spent dealing with school stuff.

I pulled into the driveway, pushed that garage door opener, and saw my hubby's vehicle in the garage.

I joked with Joshua, "That is strange...Daddy's home!"

However, at that point, it was 4:45 on a Friday afternoon, so that wasn't completely odd.  Just a little odd.

I walked in the house and looked for him.  I found him our room and made a joke.  "Sick?"

Then I plopped down on the bed in complete exhaustion.

I am SOOOO thankful I plopped down so I was already sitting.

"Um, they unhired me today."

Say what???

I felt like I was going to throw up.

I know I don't really have to say it because if you know him at all, you know that this is true.

My husband is a hard worker.

Sometimes too hard.

He does a good job of balancing family and work, but I will admit to fussing at him on occasion for doing work when I felt like he should be doing the family thing.

Even "vacations" are not true vacations.

The office is just a phone call away.

And his bosses knew that too.

That is not why he was "unhired".

There were just some changes made, and his position was a casualty.

So now we are in a new place.

I am not big on change.  And I am not excited about this one either.

I mean, he LOVED this job.

Ironically, a few days ago, he commented about how much he had enjoyed this job and hadn't been tempted to leave, even when there were opportunities.

But for whatever reason, this change is upon us.

And yes, I have dealt with every emotion.  Lots of sadness, fear, frustration, anger.

But I know who is in control.

And God does take away.

He will give too.

Maybe not in our time, but in His.

But even if He doesn't, my heart will choose to praise.

Blessed is His name.

Reba