We Are Built for Glory, Not for Defeat
Behind The Music: Win, by Lovelite
How “Win” Was Written?
Three years ago, we were all locked inside wondering if a plague was coming to murder everyone. Or from the other side of the debate, wondering if the government was coming to control our lives and dominate our existence. Either way, it was just one big party, wasn’t it?
During that time, around April of 2020, I became incredibly daunted and anxious. It had been “a whole month!” Looking back, I can’t believe I made it another two or three years living under the oppressive weight of a pandemic, and all it brought with it.
The unknown. The division. The massive umbrella of anxiety and depression that the entire planet seemed to be huddled beneath.
I remember feeling like I was on an airplane, flying over a black ocean with no end in sight and no clue of when land might ever reveal itself.
I was caught in this very question one morning. I was getting ready for… another day at home. Normally when I get ready to go somewhere (even if it’s just washing my face to sit on the couch), I like to listen to music, an audiobook, or watch a show.
This particular morning, however, I felt compelled toward silence.
As I minimally groomed this most depressed-looking version of myself, song lyrics came into my head. Not lyrics that had ever been written, but lyrics straight out of my own body, that I believe were the voice of the Holy Spirit:
“I won’t waste the waiting, I’ll sit at Your feet.
You built us for glory and not for defeat.”
This reprise swirled around in my mind as I brushed my teeth, seeing my own pallid, miserable face staring sullenly back at me from the mirror.
Built for glory, not for defeat.
The lyrics and the reflection in the mirror didn’t seem to go together.
But it became a needed prayer.
An anthem of surrender to all that God wanted to do in my tired heart.
A petition for my children who were not able to go to church or school.
A prayer for my husband who was re-learning how to do his worship leader job from inside our living room.
A desperate outcry for my mother who was at such high risk for complications from this insidious disease that was ruining all of our lives.
I won’t waste the waiting.
It was in that pitiful moment when I was getting ready to go absolutely nowhere, that I realized a song was being birthed in my heart.
I wrote the rest fairly quickly in a couple of late nights hunched in front of my little Yamaha keyboard and then I took it to my husband who helped me give the verse lyrics some edge.
Soon, “Win” was born.
This is a pandemic song. But it’s more than that. It’s a prayer and reminder to any of us pushing through any hard thing on this side of heaven.
You are built for glory. Not defeat. And in the end, He always wins.
Win
The voices inside
Full of panic and pride
Don’t say anything true
They never do
But the whispers of your victory
Are rising up inside of me
I won’t waste the waiting
I’ll sit at your feet
You built us for glory
And not for defeat
And even though right now
I can’t see the end
You’ve seen it, You know it
And I know that you always win
The world is a shell
With disease in its cells
But the dead things will rise
You’re breathing new life
Oh, I know the God of victory
Is silencing the enemy
I won’t waste the waiting
I’ll sit at your feet
You built us for glory
And not for defeat
And even though right now
I can’t see the end
You’ve seen it, You know it
And I know that you always win
Hope cannot lie
And faith cannot hide
When we have the light of your love
Hope cannot hide
And faith cannot lie
When we have the light of your love
You always win
You always win
You always win
You always will
Words and music by Jen and Andrew Polfer of Lovelite
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