Worship Leader Laura Hackett Park and the worship team at the International House of Prayer (IHOP) in Kansas City, Missouri have breathed several new worship anthems into the Church from their annual Onething Live conferences. "You Won't Relent," "You Satisfy My Soul," "New Jerusalem," "Baptize My Heart," "Arms Wide Open" and "Pour My Love on You" consistently bless me as a worshiper. I was excited to hear Laura Hackett Park's sophomore album Love Will Have Its Day, which was one of my top 3 worship albums of 2014.

What's especially cool about this album is how Laura 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. Settle in and really allow yourself to experience these songs, especially "The Love Inside" and "Lift Up Your Head," which is the source of the album title as Laura proclaims "Love will have its day." I recently had the chance to speak with Laura about "I Feel His Love."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

I wrote this song several years ago. I was struggling with depression, and every day I was waking up feeling heavy and filled with anxiety. I was in college at the time, and I had a crazy busy schedule and was trying to figure out my relationship with God. I was in my mid-twenties then, and now I'm turning 30, and I feel like my life has calmed down a little bit. 

I was talking with the Lord about how I was feeling and sat down at the piano, and I wrote this song. I started by writing the chorus when I was worshipping with Cory Asbury, and I came up with the melody. When I was talking with the Lord about my depression, the main thing He showed me was that His love is stronger than any feelings I am having on the inside. When I’m feeling bad, He can do a work in me and even change my emotions. 

Obviously it's been a process, but the Lord really used this song. As I sang it all the time for a couple of years, I would really put my faith in Him to deliver me from depression and speak out the truth even when I didn’t feel it. 

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

1 Peter 1:8-9 (NIV): Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

1 Peter 2:9 (NKJV): "But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light."

Romans 8:38-39 (NIV): "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

John 20:29 (VOICE): Jesus: Thomas, you have faith because you have seen Me. Blessed are all those who never see Me and yet they still believe.

2 Corinthians 5:7 (NKJV): For we walk by faith, not by sight.

What is the takeaway message?

This song represents my journey with God and how He has helped me overcome my emotions. When we give God our mind and our emotions, not saying negative things about ourselves but saying what God would say about us, it really opens the door for Him to do a work in us and change the way we feel about ourselves. He really did that with me. 

I remember singing this song for about a year and not really feeling it but enjoying the melody of the song. I love how music is a gift for us to unlock our hearts. Even if we don't believe the words, we are singing a beautiful melody that is fun to sing. Then after the Lord had done a work in me, I led the song in a worship set, and I was singing the song from a place of actual experience. That was a marked day for me. I really felt it and this song was my testimony. 

The Lord's really worked in my life. I feel differently now about my life and about Him. God's brought me through so much. I think my journey has taught me about being honest before Him, and not just singing about my hardships, but also singing about the Truth. I write my depressing songs when I'm in a hard place, but I don’t sing those over and over. I mostly write them to get them out of me. The songs that I keep singing are the truth. 

When I was 14, I went to a camp. A girl a couple of years older than me shared that the Lord had put on her heart to share 1st Peter 1:8-9 with me, about how even though I haven’t seen Him I love Him and believe in Him, and I'm filled with a joy inexpressible. I remember reading that passage and realizing that I wasn’t feeling that joy. That was my testimony for a long time. I knew He loved me, but I didn't feel that joy. 

When I wrote this song I wanted to express that joy, and I wanted the melody to communicate that joy and spark that in my heart. Now when I sing this song I do feel that joy inexpressible in the Lord, and that's been such a personal breakthrough in my relationship with the Lord. I just want to scream out that joy inexpressible to Him.

Lyrics:
My faith it lifts the weight of pain from lonely and mistaken days
Of hiding behind deep dark clouds of worthlessness and selfish pride
My faith is my belief in truth that God above loves me and you
And gave us freedom, gave us life to walk in love through Jesus Christ

I am confident that neither life or death
Can keep me from the love of Christ
Can keep me from the love of Christ
And though I cannot see still my heart believes
And I am filled with joy inexpressible

I feel His love welling up on the inside of me
All those years bound in shame He is setting me free
His love goes deeper than the pain that I feel
His love is stronger than depression or fear

It's greater
It's stronger

My faith it lifts the weight of pain from lonely and mistaken days
Of hiding behind deep dark clouds of worthlessness and selfish pride
My faith is my belief in truth that God above loves me and you
And gave us freedom, gave us life to walk in love through Jesus Christ

I am confident that neither life or death
Can keep me from the love of Christ
Can keep me from the love of Christ
And though I cannot see still my heart believes
And I am filled with joy inexpressible

I feel His love welling up on the inside of me
All those years bound in shame He is setting me free
His love goes deeper than the pain that I feel
His love is stronger than depression or fear

"I Feel His Love" features a worshipful refrain and Laura's strong vocal delivery. When Laura passionately sings the song, I hear in her voice a prayer of gratitude and commitment to lift God's Name high and give her gifts back to Him. Laura once again isn't performing the song; she is lifting the worshipful and heartfelt words back to our Savior. 

Laura writes and sings songs with an amazing passion and with unashamed praise and gratitude to our Savior that is very inspiring, with reminders to "lift up your head" to the Lord of Lords. The eternal Love of Jesus is beautifully expressed in these compelling songs that seep into your heart, soul and mind. This album soothes, moves and challenges listeners. Love Will Have its Day is a profound listening experience.

We were created and made in the image of God, and as such I really connect with the lyrics, "His love goes deeper than the pain that I feel, His love is stronger than depression or fear." A challenge I've personally taken away from this song is that God put it on Laura’s heart to speak with God and ask Him to release her from her depression, and she was obedient. She spent time in prayer to God in order to overcome her depression, and God healed her. That's available to all of us. Take whatever struggle you are dealing with, and lay it at the feet of Jesus.

Laura's faith is deeply rooted in the Word of God, which is how she was inspired to write this song and come out of darkness and deep depression into "His marvelous light." As a result, as listeners who can relate to every word Laura is passionately singing, we can commune with her in knowing that she needs these words as much as we need them as listeners. That's the beauty of the bond we have as believers. We are all in need of our Savior, Jesus. This song is truly praying in God’s will, as He desires the best for His followers and for us to “feel His love welling up on the inside of me.”

What an inspirational message. Jesus commands each of us to trust Him completely. Trusting Jesus assures us that we don't have to be afraid. Even when you don't feel it, you can express these words and this beautiful melody, and pray these words along with Laura: "I am confident that neither life or death, Can keep me from the love of Christ, Can keep me from the love of Christ, And though I cannot see still my heart believes, And I am filled with joy inexpressible." Amen to that!
 
(Watch Laura sing the song here.)