“The first verse of this song says it all for me.

“Reading ‘Living on the Ragged Edge’ by Charles R. Swindoll I came to this song, read it and stopped, then reread it and continued to reread it. It summed it all up for me.

“Please grant my request to use it so family and friends know and, hopefully, understand me better.

“Thank you.” – Mrs. Alta L. Merriman

I was going through estate papers today and came across this letter Mom had written to a music company requesting permission to include the song ‘Through It All’ by Andrae Crouch, in her funeral materials. It was returned to sender as Not Deliverable as Addressed.

Mom had tucked it away in her personal papers and probably forgot about using it. And now it has surfaced as I go through more of the files from my mother’s and father’s estates.

Mom had faced a number of medical issues in her last years, challenges that I won’t go through. But they contributed to the distance developing between my family members and Mom. At the end of her life, she was feeling estranged from most of us, and probably not understanding why, again due to her medical issues.

I always wondered about Mom’s state of mind in her final days and felt terrible about some of the things I had said and written to her in the heat of frustration over the years. As I read those words today, I felt terribly sad and relieved at the same time. Sad because she and I never talked about her faith, and mine. It gives me some comfort, all these years later, that she had come to terms with the challenges she faced and the relationship problems she had with her family. She found peace in her Lord and Savior, in her faith.

Thank you Mom for giving me some peace and helping me understand you better … Terry

Through It All

Andraé Crouch

I’ve had many tears and sorrows,
I’ve had questions for tomorrow,
there’s been times I didn’t know right from wrong.
But in every situation,
God gave me blessed consolation,
that my trials come to only make me strong.

Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.

Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.

I’ve been to lots of places,
I’ve seen a lot of faces,
there’s been times I felt so all alone.
But in my lonely hours,
yes, those precious lonely hours,
Jesus lets me know that I was His own

Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to trust in Jesus,
I’ve learned to trust in God.

Through it all, through it all,
I’ve learned to depend upon His Word.

I thank God for the mountains,
and I thank Him for the valleys,
I thank Him for the storms He brought me through.
For if I’d never had a problem,
I wouldn’t know God could solve them,
I’d never know what faith in God could do.

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Andrae Edward Crouch

Through It All lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group