Amy Grant returns with Somewhere Down The Road, a unique album full of brand new songs, previously unreleased songs, re-recordings of classics, and rounded out with 4 of her best loved story-songs. The theme for the album is stories & journeys. Amy has always been a great storyteller and many of her most impacting songs have come from her own journey as she sings about the honesty of life, its joys and struggles and ultimately the hope she has found in faith and love. The songs on Somewhere Down The Road read like journal entries that will resonate with anyone who grapples with wanting answers to life’s toughest questions. Topics range from being honest with yourself and God ("Better Than A Hallelujah"), learning to wait for answers to questions ("Overnight"), learning to listen to people before ‘fixing’ them ("Come Into My World"), assurance that you are not forgotten ("Arms Of Love") and much more.

There is something for any Amy Grant fan on Somewhere Down The Road from brand new recordings, previously unreleased studio recordings, concert favorites that have never been released and new versions of classic Amy songs. I got the privilege to speak with Amy about her new song “Better Than A Hallelujah.” You can listen to our entire interview here.

Please tell me about the message behind the song "Better Than A Hallelujah."

The best ones to do that would be the women who wrote the song. I’m comfortable talking about the songs I’ve written. I can tell you what first moved me about the song. As a songwriter, the comment that means the most to me is when someone says that the song expresses how they feel when they hear it. That really is the intention behind writing a song, which is to find yourself. Whether it’s a pop song or a hymn, it’s all about connecting to something real in our lives. So the first time I heard “Better Than A Hallelujah” was last fall. It was mid-October and two weeks had passed since a close friend of mine died from ovarian cancer. It was also the same month we put my mom and dad into assisted living. My mom has had a severe decline in her health this past year, and a dear friend of mine was in recovery. So, I was just trying to hold steady, be a mom and process all the changes and grieve. At that time, I was sent this song in an e-mail, and I remember that I was sitting in my pajamas and drinking my coffee as I played the song. When it ended, I played it again, and then again. It was amazing being on the receiving end of someone else’s hard work communicating the truth of coming to God with honesty and brokenness.

Do you have a life verse or any Bible verses that connects with the message of the song?

When I was in college and would sign my CD's for people, I would always sign with my life verse which is Hebrews 10:23: Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

What's the take-away message for this song?

This song really reminds me of the hymn “Just As I Am,” which we would often sing at my church back home when I was growing up. Sometimes in our unrealistic feelings about salvation, we think we’ve crossed a line, and we’re on the other side of our struggles and problems. We think everything is going to make sense now. Life is a continual struggle, and we need to bring everything in our lives to God in prayer. Yes, sometimes life brings cause for a celebration and a Hallelujah. However, we are broken people, and we all need to bring our broken selves to God.

Here are the lyrics:

God loves a lullaby in a mother’s tears in the dead of night
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes
God loves a drunkard’s cry, the soldier’s plea not to let him die
Better than a Hallelujah sometimes

We pour out our miseries, God just hears a melody
Beautiful the mess we are, the honest cries, of breaking hearts
Are better than a Hallelujah

A woman holding on for life, a dying man giving up the fight
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes
Tears of shame for what’s been done
The silence when the words won’t come
Are better than a Hallelujah sometimes

Better than a church bell ringing
Better than a choir singing out, singing out

The compelling lyrics of this song have challenged me to reflect on each line of the song. I’ve been really moved by the first line of the chorus “We pour out our miseries, God just hears a melody”, which has stuck with me in my prayer time. I’ve been reading the Psalms and David brought all of himself in prayer and confession and in complete and utter brokenness to God. God declared that David was “a man after His own Heart.”

God came for the broken, the lost, the sick.

As Amy’s life verse says in Hebrews 10:23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” For me, the challenge of this song is to pray “unswervingly” to God in my brokenness and know that my sinful nature may make me sad and feel unworthy but to God just hearing from us is a “melody.”

Don’t just bring God your hallelujahs and praises, bring all of you to Him. He wants to hear from you.