Proem

A proem is an introduction, a preface. “Who can measure the heart? No one but You, God. Who can measure a song, if You put it in me? It’s all for You...” When we were tracking the song “My Covering,” these words came to me while sitting in my makeshift vocal booth, and I truly believe that God spoke these words to my heart as a promise. As writers, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by fear that the songs and words we write won’t translate to others. There is also a temptation to compare your art to the work of others and to let their opinions sway how you feel about what you’ve created. I feel like God gave me the words of this gentle proem, promising that only He can truly measure the heart and know what is inside of us. Our son Noah Luke recorded these words the morning we mixed the record. He spoke them plainly, with heart, one time through, bringing us to tears.


My Covering

This song is an expression of Ephesians 2:4-5—“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ....” We believe that because we are in Christ, we actually died in His death, were buried with Him and raised to new life in His glorious resurrection. New life in Christ truly means that His blood is where we begin. It’s our innocence, our righteousness. His blood is what God sees us through... like a filter. When God looks at us, He sees His son, Jesus. By faith, we believe this glorious mystery and cannot help but to write and sing about it.


The Glory of Your Name

This song was completely inspired by our viewing of The Passion Of The Christ. We talk so much of the “glory” of God. Sitting through this movie, I was reminded of how the glory of God is displayed to us on this earth... it is through His only Son. The glory of God is Jesus, and we get to experience God through His life. Jesus was His own and brought His Kingdom to this earth so that all could see the greatness of God through His precious son. The way Jesus came and lived—from the cradle to the grave—God’s glory was displayed. It reminded me that there truly was no other one or any other way for me to have the position I have as God’s child. It is the passionate price Christ paid that now demands all that I am and beats in my heart every day. He took my place. He became sin and took upon Him every sickness, every sin and every disease. It’s really so hard to imagine that, but getting to see what it may have been like truly changed my life.


Knees to the Earth

OneDay is a gathering of college students from all over the country for a day consecrated to God in prayer and worship. A vision of our long-time friend, Passion conference founder Louie Gigilio, we’ve been invited to participate in both OneDay events. In 2003, Nathan and I were really up in the air over which songs to offer because both of us truly sensed that God was saying a new song would be born for those moments. Both of us love to be really prepared, so the idea of this was not particularly settling. As we sat in a tent set aside for prayer and writing, a song began to come together. Literally, a few minutes before going on the stage, the line, “knees to the earth, I bow down to everything You are” came to me. Nathan and I could not see or hear anything that was going on out on the field where the students were, but we knew our time was coming up, so we gave the final lyrics to the man running the projector and headed towards the stairs leading onto the stage. As we walked on, I gasped as I saw over 20,000 students on their knees on the field. We barely made it through the song—it was an incredibly vulnerable moment. It’s in those times that God reveals to us that it’s all about Him. He is orchestrating these huge moments of our lives, moments that shape us, moments that bring glory to God and God alone. Only He could have known we’d all be on our knees that day.


You Come As You Are

Hebrews 11:6 says, “But without faith, it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” This song is about belief and how quickly we can be caught in unbelief. It’s about coming back to the feet of Jesus and remembering that by faith in the Son of God we are raised up, set free and poured on from the perfect love of God. If we believe that He is who He says He is, we believe that we can come as we are. His grace covers all of our shame and fear. In our brokenness, God is able to breathe His life into us, and by design, His presence is then able to operate in us and through us.


Hidden

This song came from hearing Louie Giglio’s messages on a CD called Worship: That Thing We Do. It should be at the heart of every body of believers to understand that there is literally a war over our worship every day of our lives. Everything is spiritual, everything from the coffee we spill to the prayer time in our closet. Being aware of this “war,” I was journaling these words for weeks, “You win the war over me so my worship will be a life that is hidden in You. Body and soul, spirit and truth, hidden in You Lord Jesus.” It is a daily choice that we lay down our lives, our ambitions, our gifts, and choose to hide ourselves in who God is.


The Purest Place

There is a purest place that is undiluted and undefiled. It is in the center of the heart of God...Jesus Christ. This song came from a deep desire in us to daily draw from the purest place, the heart of God. Keeping every motive and every thought completely obedient to Him. There is a “refiner’s fire” that burns in us, burning out the impurities in our lives. We have experienced this time after time, coming to His feet, poor, wretched, humbled and broken. He burns in us His refining fire and we are once again in “the purest place”...the center of His heart.


You Are

This song was written at OneDay 2003 as well. We worked on this song the same day that we worked on “Knees to the Earth.” It was really a simple song that just came from me journaling different words that described God to me. It’s a worship song that expresses the fullness of who God is in our lives. It focuses on God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Holy Triune God.


Invade

I remember the night I wrote this in our living room. Nathan was in England for two weeks producing a CD for some other worship leaders, and I was stressed, holding down the fort as a full-time mom and managing Watermark. The house had quickly become chaotic, and I was feeling the effects of being spread too thin. I literally felt like I was having a nervous breakdown. I had a good cry, literally out loud to God, asking Him to come and invade our house, to walk the halls of our home and bring His mercy and freedom. I believe that Satan wants to destroy our homes, our families and our relationships. He wants to keep us distracted, stressed and does not want us to be single-minded and focused. I pray that this song will be used in many homes, sung over marriages and children, for years to come. It’s a prayer that calls for angels, for mercy, for freedom in the name of Jesus.


Soli Deo Gloria

On each piece of music he wrote, Johann Sebastian Bach would put the initials, SDG, meaning Soli Deo Gloria (To God only be glory). Inspired, we wrote this song and added an old Latin touch by having our friend Erin Joye sing a fabulous operatic intro. We wanted it to have the feel of mixing the old and the new, classical with modern. This song is about acknowledging that God’s glory is something that we truly cannot comprehend. His glory truly is His own.


Holy Roar

Written almost 10 years ago in our little apartment in Oklahoma, this song had me picturing masses of people abandoning themselves to God in worship. There was a movement of worship and revival that was going on in our little church in Edmond, and there was spiritual growth in our lives like we had never experienced. Our prayer was through this revival that God would send us out into a dying world, rushing towards them in unity and love, telling of a wonderful Savior. We prayed that as we worshiped that the world would be able to see who Jesus is. As we focus on worshiping God, making a “holy roar” with our songs and with our lives, we pray God would send us rushing and reaching into our culture with a message of hope.


Captivate Us

Our good friend Charlie Hall wrote this song many years ago, and we sang it with him when we led worship together. My favorite line in this song is “devastate us with Your presence.” Another word for “devastate” is “ruin,” which takes me back to a line in our song, “Friend for Life” that says, “Come and ruin me with Your love, so no other is enough.” We want to be overwhelmed and ruined by the presence of God, that we would never want to be away from or out of His presence. He is a God that satisfies and ruins anything else that keeps us from His heart.


Mended

This song comes from a thankful heart that God would bring mending between me and my friend Kimber Hall in an area where we were truly wounded, that God would take what we had torn apart and bring a new beginning in our lives. We can think on the mystery of God so much and the fact that our lives are a mystery to our own minds... but we are not a mystery to Him. He has all things suspended, working together for our good. His timing is perfect, and everything spins around Him but yet He takes the time to not let one thing be forgotten. He is to be praised.