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


I love this song by Matt and Beth Redman. In fact, I have a hard time singing it without tears coming to my eyes. Today, I was at a funeral for the father of one of my students from last year. The student went home, had lunch with his dad, then his dad got ready and headed out for work while the student came back to school. Little did he know that his dad would have a heart attack on his way to work. He had no idea that lunch would be their last meal together. Heartbreaking.

The above song was sung at his funeral this afternoon. The family choose to have it sung during the service. What a testament to their courage and faith. It's easy to sing a song like this when things are going well. I have no idea how they got the words out during their darkest hours. God is still God during our highest highs and lowest lows. He's there even when we can see him through the cloud of heartache and disappointment. What a powerful message to those who were at the funeral.

May they continue to feel God's presence even in their heartache, and may all of us continue to choose God despite the heartaches our lives may bring. May those words continue to touch our hearts.