At Betenbough Homes we strive to know one another well and walk life with one another. Often we feel more like a family than a business. This can be a beautiful way to live life. We get to experience the good, the bad, happy, and the sad times in life with each other. This depth of life is what I have come to understand what John 10:10 referrers to as “abundant life.”

Where this way of life gets hard is when there has to be separation of one of our employees from their job. Whether it is the choice of the employee or the leadership of the company, separation can be painful when we live life so closely and love so deeply.

I remember a particular time when one of the women I had gotten particularly close to announced her decision to leave the company. In some ways it felt like she was saying “I don’t want to be family with you anymore” and it hurt. I remember praying about it early one morning and journaling in my prayer journal. I asked the Lord why? Why does she have to go? I felt Him ask me two questions. The first was “Is she better off for having been among you all these past 7 years?” I believe so. She had learned so much over those years and grown professionally, as well as in her faith.

Then the Lord asked me the second question “Are you better off because she was among you these past 7 years?” Yes, I thought. She made a tremendous contribution to our team and to our family here. The company grew and was so blessed by her gifts and talents.

Next the Lord simply said to me “Then count it all good for I have blessed you both for allowing you to walk together these past 7 years together.” He reminded me that in His creation, everything has a season and He gets to decide when a season is done. Our job is to be grateful for the season and believe His good plans for the next one.

If you are walking through a change of season, it might help to take inventory of the blessings of the past season and let the Lord know you are waiting in hopeful anticipation of what He has in store for you in the next one.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-10
A Time for Everything

3 For everything there is a season,
a time for every activity under heaven.
² A time to be born and a time to die.
A time to plant and a time to harvest.
³ A time to kill and a time to heal.
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
⁴ A time to cry and a time to laugh.
A time to grieve and a time to dance.
⁵ A time to scatter stones and a time to gather stones.
A time to embrace and a time to turn away.
⁶ A time to search and a time to quit searching.
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
⁷ A time to tear and a time to mend.
A time to be quiet and a time to speak.
⁸ A time to love and a time to hate.
A time for war and a time for peace.