if you want me to.

the first time i heard the song “if you want me to” by ginny owens, i was in california for my cousin’s funeral service. i was in the car with some of my cousins and one of them (either marianne or monica) played this song. i remember the lyrics hitting me so hard as it talks about going through the valley and the fire (process) if he wants us to. in the twelve years since then, that song has stuck with me. there’s a line (probably my favorite line) that says “cause i’m not who i was when i took my first step and i’m clinging to the promise you’re not through with me, yet”.

looking back, i see that i’ve come so far. that he’s brought me so far. it’s so easy to see that we aren’t where we want to be. where we thought we’d be. but we so often overlook how far we have come in the process. dear ones, you have come so far from where you were. the grace of god has brought you so far. the enemy loves to lie to us and get us to focus on how far we have left to go (which, according to philippians 1:6, is a never-ending journey on this side of heaven) because if we focus on that we lose sight of how far we’ve come.

i had a friend (looking at you, ariel) once say to me “if he brought you here, how far will he bring you? if he brought you to this point, how far will he bring you? it’s from glory to glory, not glory to stuck.” and it hit me. my god wouldn’t allow me to go through everything that happened in my life only for that to be it. the same thing goes for you. i don’t know what your story is or what your life has looked like, but if you are here on this earth right now, it is for a reason. he uses everything. every. single. thing. for our good. know that. trust that. cling to his promises. he isn’t through with you, yet.

so much love,

marygrace