My new single “Isaiah 43 (I am the Lord Your God)” is available on all streaming platforms.
Behind the Song
All six of my kids have different personalities and character traits, but one thing they all had in common as babies was their fear of the dark. At bedtime, they wanted a light to be left on or some quiet music to play so they wouldn’t feel alone. I remember one time in the middle of the night, standing over the crib of one of my babies for hours, holding my hand against his back so he could feel that I was with him. If I wasn’t touching him or humming, he would cry. I don’t know what was different about that night, but he just needed to be reminded that I was there. And no matter how many nights he made it through, he would still need me to be there the next night.
I wondered why he didn’t just trust that everything would be okay. He had no reason to be scared. Every night, I told him not to be afraid, yet every night he would be afraid all over again. But I was patient because even though I knew there was no reason for him to be scared, he was just a baby. He didn’t understand. It would have been nice during those long nights if he would have just trusted that everything was okay, but that wasn’t the case.
It’s funny because I look back at these moments of my babies and think to myself, why couldn’t they just understand? Why couldn’t they just trust me when I told them there was no reason to be afraid?
And yet…
I’ve experienced God’s faithfulness in my life — time and time again. Yet, when the world went dark in 2020, I doubted him again. I know that as children of God we are not to fear, but still I had fear. I know I’m not supposed to doubt him, but still I doubted. I needed God’s hand to be touching my back, and he responded by reminding me of this passage in Isaiah where he said said these words to his children:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord your God,”
— Isaiah 43:1-3
I realized in 2020, that no matter how many times I’ve experienced God’s faithfulness, I still need to hear his voice and feel his hand on my back. Especially in dark times. I wrote this song to serve as a reminder that even in the most difficult of circumstances, he is still there. He is still God. His words are still true. When we go through tough situations, he will be with us. When we are faced with adverse circumstances, we should not fear because we are in Christ and Christ is in the Father. And no person or thing can separate us from his love. Period. Nothing changes that.
God is unchangeable. So when we feel distant, we must remember that it is not God who moved. When we are filled with fear, we must remember God never lost his power or control. When we lose our joy, it is not because God has become less enjoyable.
I pray that this song will remind you of these things, no matter what circumstance you face.
Why I’m excited about this song
I always tell people, usually the special and significant songs get written within a couple hours because they were in my heart burning to come out. I love the book of Isaiah. It’s definitely one of my favorite books of the Bible. Although it can be a theologically “dangerous” thing to write a song from the perspective of God, I feel confident that the lyrics to this song were pretty true to the passage in Isaiah 43.
Writing a song about the relationship between our our heavenly father and his children makes this song special to me because three of my kids were involved in this project. My oldest son, Corban, wrote and played all of the electric guitar parts. My oldest daughter, Marissa, sang harmonies. And my other daughter, Maddie, painted the art for the album cover. All of my kids have so much talent, and it’s one of Rachel’s and my greatest joys to see our kids use their talent for the Lord.