Charlie Peacock writes, “There are marriages that take your breath away like a masterpiece painting.” We are the art of God, and through His supernatural power, He can do miracles in our lives to make Christian marriages look like a masterpiece.

Sara Groves’ albums have received well-deserved acclaim for her premier songwriting ability. Ten years ago, Sara’s major label debut album Conversations led to her nomination for Best New Artist. She has followed up each album with her next “best” album with All Right Here and The Other Side of Something.

With her three previous INO recordings (now Fair Trade Services)--Add to the Beauty, Tell Me What You Know and Fireflies & Songs--Groves focused on a theme and wrote poetic commentary with songs about social justice and the impoverished.

Invisible Empires is the landmark 10th album by Sara Groves. “Miracle” beautifully sets the tone for this five-star masterpiece with her signature piano-based introspective style. This can be gorgeous background music, but don’t miss out on what Sara has to say in each song. Truly, every song is amazing. It’s hard to imagine, but Sara has now once again released her “best” album topping all of her previous excellent work. Invisible Empires by Sara Groves is my top album of 2011.

Each of her albums has always had at least one song that pulls my heart strings and brings out an emotional response. From “Maybe There’s A Loving God” to “I Saw What I Saw” and “It’s Me,” I always expect at least one of Sara’s songs to make me cry. On Invisible Empires there are several personal songs that melt my heart, including opening song “Miracle.”

“Lay down your arms, give up the fight, quiet your hearts for a little while, things have been spoken, shouldn’t be said, rattles around in our hearts and our heads” ring the opening lyrics to “Miracle.” Settle in and really allow yourself to experience these songs. Sara’s excellent songwriting and captivating piano-based singer-songwriter style have made her my favorite female artist in any genre of music. If you like JJ Heller, Brooke Fraser, Laura Story and Audrey Assad, you must get Invisible Empires by Sara Groves. I had the great opportunity to speak with Sara about her song “Miracle.”

Please tell me the message behind the song “Miracle.”

I remember I was on my way to jury duty and I had just heard some hard news from a friend about her marriage. Troy and I have had a couple of rough patches in our marriage--years 7 and 14 in particular of the 17 years we’ve been married. We have learned that your barometer of your marriage can’t be based solely on what you’re feeling in those moments. I got bad news from my friend about her marriage ending, and I was driving in the rain. To me, this song is the good news. It’s not like self-help in the sense of “follow God and you’ll be happy,” and all those things.

The message of the song is about allowing God to do the things in your life that you simply cannot do. It is supernatural in that through Christ and the Holy Spirit living inside of you, you can overcome emotions and feelings. I’ve experienced those moments especially at year 7, where the emotion of love was lacking and there was a distance between us. I started thinking about the best marriages that I know have gone through these same valleys, and have been in some very dark places. They’ve fought back from the brink. The Holy Spirit brought fruit where it didn’t exist and we are recipients of grace and He brings us benefits that we didn’t earn or create. That’s where the idea of this song came from.

Are there any Bible verses that connect to the message of the song?

Colossians 1:15-18: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.”

What is the take-away message for listeners about the song and music video?

The whole album is about the Invisible becoming visible. The only way we can truly see is to allow the Kingdom of God to be in our hearts. Let’s lean into this Gospel story of Jesus Christ. Let’s feel what cannot feel, know what we cannot know. What would be impossible apart from God, let’s do that and let’s be a miracle. In that way, let’s have our lives and our marriages and our relationships be a living testimony to the miracle of God’s grace.

This song and this album is about longevity. Let’s not be distracted by the trappings of this world, as those are fleeting. What I’m saying in this song is just because you don’t think you can feel what you cannot feel, I’ve seen in my own marriage that even when you think it’s hopeless, you need to rely on God’s power. With this song I want to say what seems impossible to us is possible with God. So many people are afraid to trust God with their emotions and feelings. We need to trust Him.

The music video is really unique. We had someone from Texas approach us after a concert and said he would like to make a video for a song from my album. My husband Troy normally manages this process and the content of our music videos working with our community in Minnesota. This video was filmed in Texas, completely separate of us and it was neat to see this moving interpretation of the song. Creativity begets creativity. I love this kind of collaboration. We didn’t know anything about his work, and when we saw the video, we were blown away.

Lyrics:
Lay down your arms
Give up the fight
Quiet our hearts for a little while
Things have been spoken
Shouldn't be said
Rattles around in our hearts and our heads

Let's feel what we cannot feel
Know what we cannot know
Let's heal where we couldn't heal
Oh, it's a miracle, it's a miracle

Things have been spoken
Shouldn't be said
Rattles around in our hearts and our heads

Let's feel what we cannot feel
Know what we cannot know
Let's heal where we couldn't heal
Oh, it's a miracle, love is a miracle

Let's feel what we cannot feel
Know what we cannot know
Let's heal where we couldn't heal
Oh, it's a miracle

Let's say what we cannot say
Let's see what we cannot not see
Let's hear what we could not hear
Oh it's a mystery, love is a mystery
Oh it's a miracle, it's a miracle
Let's be a miracle

IVP Bible commentary: “The God whose grace and truth is made flesh in Christ's life is now incarnated in the church's life. Thus Paul's claim for the Lord Christ issues in a practical claim upon the Christian's life and constitutes yet another typology of God's grace: sinful humanity is transformed into new humanity with the capacity to live in accord with God's pleasures and to delight in the blessings God intended for the first man and woman.”

There is nobody else in any genre of music including acclaimed GRAMMY Award winning singer-songwriters Adele and Sara Bareilles writing such piercing, relevant and moving songs. If you are looking for an entire album of songs like the GRAMMY- and Dove Award-winning song “Blessings” by Laura Story, look no further than Sara Groves. What’s especially cool about this album is how Sara invites listeners into her life by sharing what’s on her heart. She dwells on social issues, lays out spiritual truths and worships God all at the same time.

I am in a similar stage of life to Sara, as I’ve also been married for 17 years, my wife Jennifer and I have three children, and I turned 40 this past year. Maybe that’s especially why Sara’s songs tug at my heartstrings. I can perfectly relate to every single word she tenderly and gorgeously sings. I can’t hold it together when Sara sings that last stanza of the song: “Oh it's a mystery, love is a mystery, Oh it's a miracle, it's a miracle, Let's be a miracle.” That’s also my prayer for my marriage--for God to be at its center. Jesus is the Good News and the miracle that can hold us together when we have struggles. It seems harder than ever with so many distractions and temptations around us. This song is an offering and submission to the God’s supernatural ability to keep together what would otherwise fall apart. Christians in marriages need to stand up and pray “let’s be a miracle.” Amen to that!

(You can watch the very moving music video here.)