Blessed Be Your Name

Today, because of God's recent calling on my life, was unexpectedly my last cross country race, and I was feeling pretty bummed about that. I love my team, and racing, and just everything about Beloit College cross country. I never thought it would be cut short.

But do you know what, the Lord met me. I woke up this morning before the race for a long prayer time, and He showed me the ways that He had fulfilled the desires of my heart before I even knew what they were. This call isn't just obedience (although that should be enough, and it was enough for me to follow it), but it was an answer to a prayer I hadn't thought of yet. How incredible is that? Even yesterday as we practiced on the course, I experience God in such a beautiful and holy way. I ended up praying for the Holy Spirit to move in the hearts of others the way He had in mine. Today, during the race, in the times I was most tired, I literally felt swept away by Christ's strength and sovereignty. I felt inhabited completely by His Spirit. It was so amazing, I hardly have words for it.

Before the race started, I decided to make Blessed Be Your Name the soundtrack for the race. It made me think about how blessed I am, and how much I have to praise God for. And it also reminded me that He gives, and He takes away, but through it all, we can choose to say: Blessed be Your name. The Lord just never ceases to amaze me.


This is the version I have on my iPod. Yes, I know this is the Newsboys and that Matt Redman is the writer/originator, but I love the Scripture he speaks at the end!



A man’s steps are from the LORD;
how then can man understand his way? Proverbs 20:24

and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:5-8