Necessary - Alicia Jones

Recently, I was listening to Fantasia’s song Necessary, the main lyrics are: “I am who I am today because God used my mistakes. He worked it for my good, like no one else ever could”. This led me to think about purpose, which then led me to ponder the need to have ups and downs in our lives. I’m learning to value the process over the product. While I’ve been dwelling on this thought, God has shown me that it’s the process that strengthens my faith, not always the product. As a coach, my teams sometimes play teams that have some much talent or I have the opportunity to be around some great coaches, and that pushes me to develop more. We all know the saying “ When you know better, you do better.”  It won’t always look good, but it’s effective. Job 42:2 says I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. Proverbs 19:21 says many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it’s the Lord’s purpose that prevails. Our “necessary” moments, give us purpose.

Thinking of life and those necessary moments we have that God works for our good, led me to a “never” list and a conversation I had a while back with some of the girls on my team. The conversation was over God and free will. One student said we don’t really have free will because God already knows what we’re going to do. Another young lady and I both replied He knows but we don’t know. She was confusing God’s sovereignty with the choices we make. I gave several examples and she thought about them, I feel like it was sinking in finally. That or she was tired of me having a comeback for every idea she had about who God was. It boils down to this, the moments in our lives that allow God to show up and show out gives us a “never again” list which builds up our faith on this journey. We just have to remember how God prevails in our lives. Those moments are necessary and reveal our purpose.