How God Can Use the Greatest Darkness to Make Something Beautiful

"I had to write from a very vulnerable place because it was all I had." Those are words from Meredith Andrews. She gets super honest about the struggles from the past year and how they shaped her newest songs. "I feel like it’s in the darkest seasons that God gets our attention and breaks it all down and says, ‘Let’s get to the bare bones. Do you believe I am who I say I am? Do you trust me enough that even though you can’t see the light at the end of the tunnel, I have a plan for your good?’ You can say you believe in God but if you haven’t walked through trials and hardships that actually put your faith to the test then it remains shallow. God wants our belief to be at the core of our being, confident in what we know because we’ve watched His faithfulness in the hardest of times. I’m a big believer in singing the truth over myself and reminding myself of what’s real. In hard times it can be easy to get confused by what’s right in front of us. Sometimes we think we’re seeing the truth when we’re really just seeing a version of it. The reality is, no matter what we’re going through, God is always with us. [fluidvideo url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ze4vdKxG0sY"]   [The song] Deeper is my version of ‘What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.’ There’s this scene in Terminator 2 where Sarah Connor is institutionalized and she turns her bed on its side and starts doing pull ups, training for the fight she knows is coming. She’s not letting her circumstances stop her or wallowing in bed. Instead, she is making the most of her incarceration by using the time for preparation. I have this picture of God building our muscles so we can join the fight and be stronger than we were before. Not in our own strength, but in him. Last fall I was feeling completely overwhelmed by walking through the messiness of our marriage, and adding a third kid to our family. I started experiencing minor panic attacks, which came as a surprise because I always considered myself to be pretty even keeled and go-with-the flow. I found I just couldn’t catch my breath. I felt oppressed and stressed and a lot of this album came out of that place, believing that God was strengthening my spiritual muscles. I’m praying that God will use this album to bring freedom. I envision people hearing these songs for the first time in their rooms and being overwhelmed by the presence of God and by the healing and hope found there, because the only place we’re going to find true restoration is in the presence of God. Releasing our fear, surrendering and saying, ‘God I trust You. At the core of my being I trust You. Even though it goes against everything I feel and see and what everyone around me tells me, I trust You. Because You are trustworthy. [fluidvideo url="https://www.youtube.com/embed/m9pltp-yUwA"]   Our collective prayer is that these songs would be a lifeline to all of those searching for hope. If that is you, know that we are all believing that God will use these songs to take you deeper into His love and presence." [ts_fab authorid="157" tabs="bio,twitter,latest_posts"]