"Anyway"

I heard this song on American Idol, and it really blessed me. I've been listening to it the past few days. It's not officially a Christian song... it's country (don't worry, no twang!) and it's called Anyway.

Here are the lyrics that stuck out to me the most....

You can spend your whole life buildin'
Something from nothin'
One storm can come and blow it all away
Build it anyway

You can chase a dream
That seems so out of reach
And you know it might not ever come your way
Dream it anyway

God is great
But sometimes life ain't good
And when I pray
It doesn't always turn out like I think it should
But I do it anyway
I do it anyway

You can pour your soul out singing
A song you believe in
That tomorrow they'll forget you ever sang
Sing it anyway

I sing
I dream
I love
anyway

It probably has more impact if you listen to it... the first version is the shorter version by Lauren Alaina. The second is the full version by Martina McBride.






I don't know if I can thoroughly explain why this hits home with me, but I'll try. After tragedy hits, life becomes tainted. It's hard to rebuild, especially knowing that "one storm can come blow it all away"... but you build it anyway.

I'm finding (and believe!) that if you dare to allow it, tragedy can transform your outlook on life into something more mature, seasoned, and influential.

The final product from my paint-by-number!

This reminds me of the ugly brown paint that came in my paint-by-number piece I worked on a few weeks ago. I thought that brown paint was good for nothing. It was ugly and I was astounded that they wanted me to mix that brown paint with a beautiful blue color. I thought nothing good could come of mixing that dark color with the pretty blue... but it turned into a wonderful color (purple, I think) that worked perfectly with the piece.

That brown paint is like tragedy. It looks ugly and none of us can imagine something beautiful coming out of it, but God can take the ugly and makes beautiful colors out of it that couldn't get there any other away.

He's amazing. No matter what obstacles come my way, I'll serve Him, singing, dancing, living, and loving anyway.