JJ Heller's trademark transparency echoes through every note of her vibrant new album Sound of a Living Heart, featuring the standout song "Fully Known." This album is JJ's best overall and was one of my top 3 albums of 2015. The 11 new songs will make your heart sing. Each song stands as a unique reminder to hold onto hope and trust despite any difficulties in circumstances. JJ's vocals will soothe your soul, and several songs have vertical lyrics which will direct your attention and focus on Jesus.

This is a very worshipful album. JJ has blessed listeners by writing and singing such piercing and moving songs. JJ's remarkable singing voice and her interesting music and lyrics are truly captivating. What's especially cool about this album is how JJ invites listeners into her life by sharing what's on her heart, reflecting on life and faith issues with every single note. Painted Red, When I'm With You and Loved have been in heavy rotation for me since they released, and they have each featured standout songs like "Your Hands," "What Love Really Means" and "Who You Are." I had the chance to speak with JJ and Dave about "The Well."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

Dave: The song originally started with a Prodigal Son reference, which the first verse alludes to. Something else that I feel really strongly applies is the story of Jesus's interaction with the woman at the well. The fact that here is this person that Jesus asks personal questions to, and she keeps trying to deflect because she knows that her past and her personal history is jaded, and yet at the same time she has a physical and spiritual thirst that needs to be quenched. The whole conversation that is taking place at a physical well is not just about the physical water that is going to be drawn, but the thirst that every one of us has spiritually, and He's the only One who can supply that to us.

JJ: There's this element of realizing that Jesus is our source. Sometimes when I wake up in the morning, I already feel behind. There aren't enough hours in the day. I'm not equipped to handle it. I'm not a good enough Mom. I feel like I'm running behind and not measuring up. When I sing this song, it's a reminder to me that I don't have to measure up, and I never will if I'm looking to myself to be my own source of strength. That's what's so beautiful about the Lord, is that He has told us that He will provide for all of our needs and His source is unending. We'll never exhaust it or drain it, and He will never run dry.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Isaiah 43:19 (VOICE): "Watch closely: I am preparing something new; it's happening now, even as I speak, and you're about to see it. I am preparing a way through the desert; Waters will flow where there had been none." 

Ecclesiastes 2:11 (NLT): "But as I looked at everything I had worked so hard to accomplish, it was all so meaningless--like chasing the wind. There was nothing really worthwhile anywhere."

John 7:38 (NKJV): He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.

John 4:29 (NKJV): "Come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?"

What is the takeaway message?

Dave: The lyrics "I was chasing the wind, I should have been chasing You" and "I was rich as a king but my heart was broke" are reminders that we get to experience this small aspect of fame the way that people from Hollywood might, and it's interesting that the perspective from which we experience it is that we have to remind people that we are normal people who happen to sing from a stage every once in a while. There's this natural tendency to want to worship somebody or embody that person who we admire because we place them on a pedestal. The lesson we keep learning over and over again is how unfulfilling worldly success actually is. You look at the Philip Seymour Hoffman and Robin Williams situations and how depressed they were. In the end, fulfillment has to come from a source outside of ourselves. 

Even though we are writing a fun song, it has a deep and meaningful connotation. These are the universal struggles we all deal with, the desire to find meaning and worth. A lot of the time we want to find that in places that aren't actually meaningful or worthwhile. One of the missions we have in making music is to let people know that they are loved, not alone and they can live life with a whole heart. I feel like part of the pursuit of fame is the desire to be someone other than yourself who is impressive and has done amazing things. The message of the Gospel is that you are accepted just as you are. That's one of the major themes of this album from beginning to end. You can be your own authentic self, but it takes realizing who you truly are to get to that place. The voice in this song is someone who has learned that lesson.

JJ: When we realize our own need, sometimes it's easier to go to the well and search for the Living Water. That's why we put also put in the song the part about being as rich as a king but having a bankrupt heart. That's what's so intoxicating about fame and money, that we think it's going to give us what we want, but in reality it's just a smoke screen. It's so important to realize our need even when things are going well in our lives. We need to still go to the Well, Jesus, every day.

Lyrics:
I bought into the lie
And I spent all my gold
When I fill up my life, 
How will I ever be whole? 
And I bartered my dreams for glitter and smoke
I was rich as a king but my heart was broke

You are, You are the well
You are the well that never runs dry
You are, You are the well
You are the well that never runs dry

I followed my heart but it led me astray
I should not have gone but I went anyway
Now I find myself here all battered and bruised
I was chasing the wind, I should have been chasing You
I should have been chasing You 
 
You are, You are the well
You are the well that never runs dry
You are, You are the well
You are the well that never runs dry 

Here in the desert, I'm in the wasteland
Nothing but sand and stone
There is a river, there is a fountain
Deep enough for every soul
Deep enough for every soul
You are, You are the well
You are the well that never runs dry
You are, You are the well
You are the well that never runs dry
That never runs dry, that never runs dry
You are the well that never runs dry

I have to fight back tears while listening to several of the songs on this album, especially "Let Down Your Guard," "Meant to Be," "Father-Daughter Dance," "Holy Ground," "Daylight" and "Sound of a Living Heart." The new worshipful songs "The Well," "Fully Known," and "Scarlet Thread" are not to be missed. If you liked the recent "gourmet" worshipful albums by Audrey Assad and Ellie Holcomb, then you must pick up Sound of a Living Heart by JJ Heller. JJ's remarkable singing voice and her interesting music and lyrics are truly captivating. This album is JJ Heller's crowning achievement. It is flawless, and you'll hang on every word she emotionally sings.

God's grace washes us clean in the River of His Holy Spirit, and we become a new creation in Christ. As we look at the fallen world around us, we all need to lift our eyes up to God and put all of our faith and hope in Him. The picture of God's grace being poured out like water is a beautiful and biblical image of the water and the blood that poured out of our Savior Jesus Christ when He hung on the Cross to provide God's riches to us at His own expense. That's when His love washed over us. The story of the woman at the well stirs up my soul to think about how excited she was to drop her bucket and go tell everyone in the town to "come, see a Man who told me all things that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" Jesus knows everything about us, and His Spirit is the well of Living Water that never runs dry. 

That's the beauty of this song and album: in addition to acknowledging the ways we try to fill our lives with meaningless endeavors, like chasing the wind, the conclusion of "The Well" and Sound of a Living Heart is how our relationship with God and whether we've chosen Jesus to be our Lord and Savior is the ultimate answer to life's quest for meaning.

Having just celebrated Mother's Day, this gospel-tinged song by JJ Heller, a mother of two young girls, is a great way to celebrate the Truth. Get swept up in a powerful fashion as the song builds to the emotional and vertical proclamation: "I should have been chasing You! You are, You are the well, You are the well that never runs dry." Amen to that!

Watch the music video below.