If I'm ever stranded on a deserted island and I can only listen to one album the rest of my days, Heart by Audrey Assad is the album I'd take with me. Heart is loaded with meaningful, engaging and beautiful songs, and is the most amazing album by a female vocalist I've ever heard. It ranks with Invisible Empires by Sara Groves and Albertine by Brooke Fraser as a flawless and emotional depiction of the beauty and majesty of our Creator's "Heart." Thank you Audrey for blessing us with your gifted gorgeous vocals and for pouring yourself into songs that deeply stir my soul. 

 

The House You're Building--one of my Top 10 albums of 2010--captivated me, and Heart has completely "won me over." From start to finish, all 12 songs weave a tapestry that is artful, engaging, catchy, and emotional. 

 

I can't get enough of Audrey's singing voice and the incredible and introspective messages of her great songs. Audrey's first year of marriage framed the entire writing process of this album as her husband learned he had treatable cancer. At times, you can physically feel Audrey's soul-imploring emotions in these flawless and compelling songs. I had the great opportunity to interview Audrey in-person about of my many favorite songs on the album, the opener "Blessed Are The Ones." 

 

 

I co-wrote the song with Derek Webb and his wife, Sandra, about marriage. I was engaged to my husband at the time. And I wanted to write with Derek and Sandra; and I've always loved the work they've done together on their little EPs that they put out. I felt like I wanted to write a song about what I thought about was coming with marriage. I felt like writing it with a married couple would be a really good idea, because they've actually been through some of that. They have kids, and they've got a few years under their belt. I think they've been married for like seven or eight years now. So we just started talking about what my ideas were about the seasons of marriage that I was predicting and then hearing their experience and just going from there. 

 

I guess we both come from broken families, my husband and I. So there's no shortage of realism in my heart about what I know can happen because I've seen it. I've seen it disintegrate in front of my face. But I wouldn't have gotten married if I didn't believe it could be done. So I feel like a dual sense of knowing and expecting challenges--really anticipating really hard things coming our way--and also believing that there is a way. I believe that way is through trusting God and letting God work. It's not as simple as that, but that's ultimately what will get you through to the end. We want to do that. We have our eyes set on the prize of "marriage until we die." So we're optimistic and hopeful in the Lord, and also we are realistic about the trials that we could encounter.

 

 

Philippians 2:14-16: "Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life—in order that I may boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labor for nothing."

 

...and the Beatitudes, Matthew 5:1-12: "Now when He saw the crowds, He went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, and He began to teach them saying: 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek,  for they will inherit the earth.  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,  for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.  Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.'" 

 

 

I got married about 18 months ago and I started recording this album about a year ago. A lot of the songs came directly out of the experience of confronting myself in the light of another person entering my life and that kind of love is very revealing. Many people say marriage is like a mirror and you see yourself in ways that you never have. Some of what you find out about yourself you like and some of what you find out about yourself, you don't like very much. I found that type of love confronting me in a lot of new ways. I learned a lot about my own heart, which is why I called the album Heart and also about the heart of God through the experience of my husband learning he had treatable cancer in the first few months of our marriage. 

 

He's doing very well, but introducing that sickness into our lives in the first year of our marriage really flipped a switch for me. I felt like I didn't have unrealistic expectations of marriage, mostly from great counselors who we respect advising us beforehand. I definitely didn't expect cancer though. So the switch flipped for me that life still happens and your body is still your body and sickness is sickness and it doesn't do anything for me except change Who you are walking with. I felt very at peace right away. My husband already had cancer when we got married, and just didn't know. Any idea I had that our first year would be easy and fun with no troubles was not reality, it was my ideal. So what was I robbed of? Not reality, just my ideal. That's a gift because open eyes are the best kinds of eyes and I'm just glad to have them. It puts everything into perspective.

 

 

Matt Redman says: "Philippians 2:14-16 says that in this generation we, as the church, 'shine like stars in the universe'. If you know anything about stars, that's a pretty amazing thought. Seeing them from such unfathomable distances away, we can be unaware of just how outrageous these stars are. Take the Sun as an example. They says it's about 27 million degrees Fahrenheit in its unfathomably hot core. Or, check out the star Sirius. This one is about twice the mass and diameter of the sun, and 23 times as luminous. So when the Bible tells us 'we shine like stars' in this generation, that's some pretty intense stuff. What I love most about this verse though is how affirming it is. It doesn't say 'go and try your best and if you're an expert at Christianity one day you might even shine'. No, it says 'you DO shine' - we already shine - even on our bad days. That's good news for the lady who's showing up at the office every day wondering if her being there really makes a difference. Or the guy at college living on campus and losing confidence in his ability to shine because of how full-on an environment it is. It's so easy to lose our confidence in this area - and this verse is so helpful and encouraging. I'll end with an old line from Charles Spurgeon, which sums it all up for me: 'Never lose heart in the power of the Gospel.'"

 

Audrey really captures what it means to be loved unconditionally by Jesus in this song. I love knowing that in my brokenness, I am actually closer to God. Jesus really loves us just as we are, not who we pretend to be.  Not only does He love our weaknesses, he blesses us because of them.  Being poor in spirit, meek, persecuted, and insulted bring blessings from God, which is all we need.  Amen!

 

(You can watch Audrey sing the song here.)