Behind the Songs... A song by song description of my new album "Overcome" :)
Better For The Breaking
Written by Lara Landon and Greg Crow
After breaking up with someone that I thought was “The One,” I was really shaken. At that time, I was also facing challenges in pursuit of my music calling. I realized though that I had a choice -- I could either give up on love and my calling or learn from it and let God work all things together for the good as He promised in Romans 8:28. I’m not going to say it was easy, but I do believe I am better for being broken, and I can see that God has used it to mature me and show me just how true His promise is to “work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.”
Falling
Written by Lara Landon
Every day we are faced with choices. God gave us the gift of free will so we wouldn’t just be programmed robots but could choose Him based on how good He is. Even when we accept God as our Savior and have a “new nature,” we can choose to deliberately sin. In this song I’m expressing what it feels like to be in that moment of decision. Will I fall into sin or choose to cling to God for strength to resist it?
Defenseless
Written by Lara Landon, Faith Gilmore and David Perry
We wrote “Defenseless” very quickly and spontaneously. I met with two of my close friends just to talk about what was on our hearts -- turned out we all had similar circumstances and feelings. We were doing everything we could to make life work, to have relationships, keep up good appearances, and get our validation from people -- basically everything except getting alone with God. It takes a lot of trust and vulnerability to get in the presence of God to find our validation and love. It’s much easier to distract ourselves with any number of other “good” things. “Defenseless” is the result of trying to express this as honestly and simply as possible.
The Storm
Written by Lara Landon and Brian Hitt
In writing “The Storm,” I was imagining a tumultuous, dark and scary night where someone is wondering outside banging on doors to find shelter. When he sees the light on and the door open to one inviting house, it seems too good to be true. That’s the invitation God is giving us -- it seems too good to be true. Jesus said come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28). We have a safe harbor, an open door, and an invitation to find shelter from life’s storms in our Father’s house.
Leah
Written by Lara Landon and Steve Wilson
One day you’ll wake up and realize you’ve arrived at a place too good to believe -- those lyrics are true to my story! As a teenager, I felt so out of place and even depressed and lonely. I didn’t know how on earth I was going to get from where I was to my dreams of singing and having a life that made a difference. I didn’t know, but God did, and now years later I can look back and realize that God’s mercy, grace, love and correction have been and continue to be molding me into the woman I always wished that I could become. In His perfect plan, God has used my struggles and tests as a testimony to encourage girls like “Leah” in this song.
Closer Than You Know
Written by Lara Landon and Gregory Everett
So many times I’ve messed up and felt miles away from God’s forgiveness, but the truth is I was just a breath away. The story of the prodigal son was in my mind while writing this song. The son felt too ashamed to come home, never thinking that his father could possibly be waiting and longing to see him again. People tend to want to clean up their act or get their lives in order before coming back to God when they’ve strayed. But the truth is, we will never be able to clean ourselves up without God. Time and time again, Jesus offers his mind-boggling, scandalous, overwhelming grace. He waits with open arms to embrace us as we are, even if we are covered in dirt like the prodigal son.
The River
Written by Lara Landon
“Then He showed me the river whose water gives life, sparkling like crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” (Rev. 22:1)
“The River” is a picture of a healing place for all relationships, from married couples to friends and family. “The River” is not just a symbol, it’s also literally the water of life that flows from the throne of God. Jesus called himself the living water and offered this water to the Samaritan woman at the well who had failed relationships. He offers that same healing to us.
Getting swept away in the river is letting go, trusting, surrendering and not needing to know what’s coming next. It’s being vulnerable. I know in relationships, especially close ones, it’s the hardest to be vulnerable and honest because we feel the other person sees us in a certain way, and we don’t know how to change that. I think getting in the river of God is saying “I'm going to trust you God to somehow makes things new if I just open my heart and try again.”
I don’t know how God does it, but He does. He makes all things new again. That’s His business. He restores, reclaims, reuses. He doesn’t waste anything. He’s the great recycler. Nothing is beyond repair. Salvation and salvage sound pretty similar don’t they?
Look East
Written by Lara Landon
This is a promise song. It talks about how just as surely as the sun rises every day in the East, so too Yeshua (Jesus) will come back for us. And what’s more, the Bible says He will return through the East Gate in Jerusalem. He is literally the Son rising in the East, a tangible picture to give us proof of an unseen truth. I took some creative liberty and imagined that Jesus was speaking this promise to me, reassuring me that He was coming back for me. In the bridge, I respond to this promise by saying Psalm 24:7: "Open up ye gates! Let the King Come in- Baruch Haba B'shem Adonai" (Blessed is He who comes in the name of The Lord). Yes, blessed is He who makes the sun rise every day as a promise of His everlasting faithfulness!
I Want You
Written by Lara Landon and Krissy Nordhoff
“I Want You” is a simple statement that carries a lot of weight. It’s a confession that puts the one saying it in a very vulnerable position. While trying to wrap my mind around how good God is, how beautiful His character is, I felt more than ever that I did indeed want Him. And in response to that vulnerable confession, I felt like I heard Him express the same sentiment back to me. We can think we want to be close to God, but I’m sure our desire is far weaker than the desire He has to be close to us. He showed us that when He humbled Himself and became a human just to be able to reach us in all of our sin and hopelessness. We can certainly see a picture of just how much He wants us by looking at the cross.
I See God In You
Written by Lara Landon, Mitch Dane, and Ty Smith
If we are mindful of it, we will see what Jesus said is true! When we do things for the “least of these,” we are doing it for Him. When we recognize every person has the Creator’s fingerprints all over them and that they mean the world to God, we will treat them with the love that Jesus commanded us to! I’ve been inspired by the numerous photos and stories people have submitted in response to this song and message. People have shared that they have seen God in the faith of a child, the strength of a mother that’s battling cancer, the love that was shown by a group of volunteers on a mission trip. God is everywhere, and we can serve Him if we only open our eyes to the people He’s placed all around us.
Overcome
Written by Lara Landon and Krissy Nordhoff
When I was in a terrible slump, feeling defeated and helpless, I came across Revelation 12:11: “And they overcame him by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony and they loved not their lives until death.”
This verse helped me begin to get outside of myself and see that there was a much bigger story that my life was just a small part in. We, as humans, have all individually and collectively faced dark times, defeat and hopelessness. Yet, I know how the story ends...that’s my divine privilege as a child of God. The story of this race of humans has a beginning, middle and end, and it’s a victorious end. I love the quote “everything will be okay in the end, if it’s not okay, it’s not the end!”
Words make worlds. That’s how the Bible says God created the earth. That is how we create our world. I’ve always loved Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. They were literally reshaping the world with their words from bigotry and hate to understanding and acceptance. How did African Americans encourage and unify themselves to stand up and overcome their circumstances in the 50's and 60's? They did it by singing together, speaking it out, declaring, and prophesying things like “We shall overcome, we shall overcome, we shall overcome some day. Deep in my heart. I do believe. We shall overcome someday.”
The Spirit Of The Lord
Written by Lara Landon
Jesus gave His mission statement at the start of His ministry on earth when He stood up to read from the prophecy written about Him in the book of Isaiah. I always felt a call to be used by God in some way, but I wasn’t exactly sure what that would look like. I’m still not exactly sure how God wants to use my life, but I have adopted His mission statement as my own. I really believe in the power of singing and speaking out loud the things that God puts on our heart, so I put this mission statement straight from Luke 4:18 to song.
Ok where do I start? Many of you know these songs already but if you don't I have sooo much to say.
Basically, my songs are me. They've come from my most intimate struggles with who I am, what I'm doing, what I'm worth, where I've gone wrong and how my life and mistakes have been redeemed again and again by the love of God.
I'm grateful that by being vulnerable and telling the truth, people have been touched. Since the release of my first album "Beloved"- which these songs all came from- I've received literally thousands of emails and messages from people, especially about the song "Beloved".
Well let me tell you, when I wrote it I had no idea that would happen. I was in college, away from home for the first time. It was cold out and I would go to be alone in practice rooms at my college. Night after night I'd play and sing ideas into a little hand held recorder. One night- as if by magic or as if a gift from God came down. I started singing "I'm His Beloved and He's mine- Nothing can separate, no space, no time" The words, chords and the melody simultaneously. If you knew me, and how I so questioned God- you would understand that such a statement was not usual for me to be able to express.
I have no doubt God was delivering a message to me and He's delivered that message through me (and many other believers) only by his mercy. The message I was to sing time and time again, from one side of the country to the other, in churches big and small, in the studio, and alone in my practice room. See, I think God had me write and sing this because He knew I'd have to say it over and over again. Maybe I'd really get it. He loves me.
Since then, I've found it and I've lost it and I've gone forward and I've gone backward but the phrase "I'm His Beloved and He is mine" is now my epitaph. It's my perspective, my true North- it's the knowledge that guides me back to the path to life.
Oh that you would sing it as your own phrase. That's what I wish for you.
I made this video without realizing the significance of the white dress in the video and the romantic feel it would take on. It's of course reminiscent of a bride and a wedding. He is the groom and we are the Bride- we are His and He is ours. Not because we were worthy but because He makes us worthy by association with Himself.
CLOSER
