You Give And Take Away

What does God take away from us?

God can take our hopes, our dreams, and our expectations. He can take away our material things. He can take away friendships and relationships. He can take our very lives.

But what can God give us?

God does not take away these things and leave us empty. Instead He gives us replacements we never could have come up with on our own. He fills our hearts and minds with new dreams that we cold never have imagined before. He blesses us in ways that we never saw coming.
As a missionary I see this on a regular basis. God blesses me on a monetary basis quite regularly. From month to month I never know where my money is coming from. But it is through that I have learned trust, as I never come up short. I have what I need, when I need it. How can I argue with that?
God does not just bless me monetarily. When I need encouragement there is a card or a phone call or an email or a Facebook post that comes at the right time. When I think of something that might be nice to have (something as trivial as Ziploc bags), God will often times put it on peoples hearts to supply. I don't tell anyone a thing but it still shows up. How can I say that is coincidence? When God cares enough to supply me with the small things how can I doubt that He will give me the big things??

Blessed be the Name of the Lord!!

Out of Control

Certain days I am bombarded with questions. Unfortunately, they are not friendly questions. They are more the type that just bring me down more than lift me up. However, today I really felt the need to express them and I figured that if nothing else, my blog needs to be honest. Don't get me wrong - it's great being a Montana Missionary, but overall I am still human. So, here are some of my questions.

Why??? Why do I feel so out of control some times? Why do I not say what I think? Why do I take things personally? Why do things not work out the way I had planned them to? Why don't scenarios play out the way I imagine? Why do things come out of my mouth way harsher than they sounded in my mind? Why can't people always understand what the other person means? Why can't I be all things for all people????