Christian music fans were first introduced to Lauren Daigle as she sang the gorgeous harmonies on Centricity label mate Jason Gray's hit single "Nothing is Wasted." Then we were treated to her original Christmas song, "Light of The World," and then her hit title track to her debut EP "How Can it Be" along with "Come Alive (Dry Bones)" and "First," which have all been featured as behind the song devotionals.

Her debut full-length album How Can it Be was preceded by Lauren Daigle's worshipful and powerful title track, which has resonated with me since I first heard the song. "How Can it Be" is an excellent depiction of the sacrifice and unmerited grace of our Advocate and Redeemer, and it serves as a gorgeous offering to our Savior Jesus. 

What's especially cool about this album is how Lauren Daigle invites listeners into her life by sharing what's on her heart and worshiping God with every single note. Opening track and previously featured song "First" beautifully sets the tone for this masterpiece with Lauren's signature powerful and emotive singing style. I had the chance to speak with Lauren about the song "Loyal."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

I traveled to Panama City to lead worship last year, and I felt the Lord telling me to pray for kids who had lost their mothers. When I got there, I met a man who had lost his wife to cancer, and I met his 3 young children who had lost their mother. Shortly after that I moved to Atlanta, and now I'm closer to them. They are part of my life now, and I'm like their big sister. 

Having moved to Atlanta and feeling the Lord's calling in my life to leave Nashville, I've felt the Lord telling me "Lauren, focus on My love, My perfect love casts out all fear," which is like what we talked about with "First." When you see how God's love is loyal, you can take leaps of faith that to the world might seem crazy. There's no risk when you are wrapped and embraced in God's love.

The background of the song came from my producer and his friend who were working on it. They brought it to me, and they thought the song was for me. I heard the chorus "Your love is loyal," and I knew that was the anthem cry of all mankind. The fact is that in our society the exact opposite message is being told. We are told that love is fleeting, there is no such thing as loyalty in love. Look at the divorce rates. 

I found out I was singing at this camp again in Panama City again this year. They break the kids into small groups, and in this one group there are eighteen girls who were talking about God's love for them and how in the midst of everything, God's love is constant. They asked how many of the girls believe that marriages can last and can be a lifetime. Out of the eighteen girls, only one of them raised her hand. That shocked me. Then they asked how many of them believed it was worth staying a virgin until marriage. Again, only one girl raised her hand. Their response was since the marriage isn't going to last anyway, why wait? That shocked me. I'm twenty-four, and those kids are seventeen and eighteen. Somewhere in the past few years, kids are saying that staying pure until marriage is just something people say as an ideal but it isn't really a reality. That baffled me. I couldn't believe that they weren't even open to the idea that it can happen.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Lamentations 3:22-24 (MSG): God's loyal love couldn't have run out, His merciful love couldn't have dried up. They're created new every morning. How great your faithfulness! I'm sticking with God (I say it over and over). He's all I've got left.

Psalm 36:5-6 (MSG): God's love is meteoric, His loyalty astronomic, His purpose titanic, His verdicts oceanic. Yet in His largeness nothing gets lost; not a man, not a mouse, slips through the cracks.

Psalm 143:12 (VOICE): In Your loyal love, silence my enemies for good; destroy all those who take pleasure in my suffering, for I am Your faithful servant!

Proverbs 3:3-4 (MSG): Don't lose your grip on Love and Loyalty. Tie them around your neck; carve their initials on your heart. Earn a reputation for living well in God's eyes and the eyes of the people.

1 John 3:1 (NLT): See how very much our Father loves us, for He calls us His children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know Him.

1 John 4:9-10 (VOICE): Because of this, the love of God is a reality among us: God sent His only Son into the world so that we could find true life through Him.  This is the embodiment of true love: not that we have loved God first, but that He loved us and sent His unique Son on a special mission to become an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

1 Corinthians 13:7 (CEV): Love is always supportive, loyal, hopeful, and trusting.

What is the takeaway message?

When you look at the statistics about marriage and sex before marriage, they aren't what the Lord has in store for us. Despite the sadness of divorce and circumstances that are devastating, when you compare that to the Lord's love, it's the exact opposite. He is always for us, and never against us. His love is constant and faithful. 

I was thinking about this the other day. In being surrounded by people who were facing loss, including the family who lost their mother at a young age, and friends of mine who are going through horrible divorces, I've been asking the Lord for an anthem for my heart. I met some girls who were involved in trafficking and used for prostitution. What is the antidote and antithesis of that? The answer is that God's love is loyal. 

I believe this song can be an anthem for people going through a season of loneliness, brokenness and misunderstanding what love can really look like. Just watching these high school aged kids, they are setting up their hearts for what is to come. This is the stage when they are fashioning their hearts for who they want to be. We see guys and girls who have already given away their hearts and take it for granted. God wants their hearts. I'm praying for the Spirit of purity for these kids. 

My prayer for this song is for people to have a pure and upright heart for God and His love. That's what people are hungry for. Even without recognizing it, this generation is hungering for purity, authenticity and vulnerability. Being pure and being a virgin when you present yourself to your spouse is one way to do that. There is fruit in that. 

God can redeem any story or situation. That's the counterpart of God's loyal love. At any given time you can surrender your heart to God and be set free. We're told that if you fail, God turns His back. That's the exact opposite of God's heart. He tells us that even when we fall, He picks us up. God is loyal. You'll never fall completely because of God and His righteousness. He redeems every story.

Lyrics:
I could never earn Your heart
I could never reach that far
But You have pulled me close
You've never let me go
I'm safe forever in Your arms
Your promises I cannot break
And I know You will never change

Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
More faithful than the rising sun
This grace for me I can't outrun
Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal

You are always there for me
You listen every time I speak
You look into my eyes
You see the things I hide
And say that You will never leave
Your promises I cannot break
And I know You will never change

When my world shakes
Your love remains unshaken
So constant, so perfect, unwavering
When my world falls
Your love remains unfailing
So constant, so perfect, unwavering
So constant, so perfect, unwavering

Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
More faithful than the rising sun
This grace for me I can't outrun
Your love is, Your love is
Your love is loyal
Loyal

You'll be raising your heart and hands in worship along with this great new song. I hear in Lauren's stellar vocals a sincere yearning for Jesus and thankfulness in her heart for God's mercy and grace. I'm completely convicted by the strong lyrics and find immense comfort in this song filled with biblical truth.

One of the reasons I feel so strongly about featuring female artists making faith-based music, like Lauren, is that they are representing purity to my 3 daughters, which is so important. When I look at what the secular world values, it does not value purity. People mock purity and belittle it. The Lord washes us white and pure as snow. God's love is a pure and unconditional love that the world doesn't know unless you have tasted and seen the goodness and purity of Jesus and His love for us.

As a Christian father, I want my daughters to all know that they are beautiful just the way they are, and they don't need the world's approval or to fall into the trap of the world's definitions of right and wrong. We often feel ashamed and unworthy of God's perfect and loyal love, but that's the point. We aren't worthy, and yet God still wants all of us and loves us deeply. This entire album is about giving and accepting love. His love is loyal, and He never gives up on us. Commit your heart to Jesus as your first love. Commit to holiness and purity in your life, and this song can be your anthem. No matter what you've done, you can be pure in the Lord's sight.

The idea of finding our peace, joy and identity in Christ is beautifully captured in "Loyal." The song is a gorgeous profession of Lauren's sincere desire to lift up Jesus in every song. The song compels me to worship and profess my own appreciation for the pure love of Jesus. You'll join in with Lauren as she profoundly sings "More faithful than the rising sun, this grace for me, I can't outrun--Your love is Loyal." Amen to that! 

(Watch the lyric video here.)