Audrey Assad is a critically lauded singer, songwriter and musician, as well as author, speaker, producer and daughter of a Syrian refugee. Assad released her second independent album, Inheritance, on February 12 and Inheritance: Deluxe Edition on October 7 with four additional Fox Sessions recordings. Collaborating with renowned cellist and composer Cara Fox, these re-imagined songs, live concert recordings and videos, are featured on the Inheritance Deluxe Edition. The album is a collection of hymns and original songs that both pay homage to her childhood heritage and to her Catholic faith and charismatic spirituality.

From my first listen, I was totally captivated by this worship album. I'm really engaged by Audrey's emotional vocals and the deep, prayerful lyrics throughout the album. With each new offering, Audrey brings sincerity and relatable themes that get deeper with each listen, with her reverent songs, "For Love of You," "Restless," "Sparrow," and "Even Unto Death," which have all been featured as Behind the Song Devotionals. I had the chance to speak with Audrey about "New Every Morning."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

I wrote the song with Matt Maher in 2013, at the beginning of the year right before I became an independent artist. At the end of that season of being on a label for me, we were in a writing room at Matt's label and we sat down and it was really an attempt to tie-in the theme of the mercy of God against the backdrop of history. It's a very high view song, talking about Creation, the Incarnation, with Jesus, The Word, becoming flesh, and then dying on the cross.

Something intentional was that this album is a hymns album and one of my criteria for adding any original songs to the album was that I wanted it to reference a hymn that I grew up singing in some way. That's represented in the bridge, "at the cross, at the cross, where I first saw Your light" which is referencing a song I grew up singing from the hymnal called "At the Cross." It seemed appropriate to take this high view of salvation history, talk about mercy and then bring it all to the cross. That's how the song happened. It started in the beginning of 2013, and then it was finished right as I recorded this album at the end of 2015.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Genesis 1:2 (NIV): "Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters."

Hosea 6:3 (NIV): "Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge Him. As surely as the sun rises, He will appear; He will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

Lamentations 3:22-23 (NKJV): "Through the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness."

John 1:1 (NIV): "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

Philippians 2:8 (NIV): "And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to death--even death on a Cross!"

1 John 4:9-10 (VOICE): "Because of this, the love of God is a reality among us: God sent His only Son into the world so that we could find true life through Him.  This is the embodiment of true love: not that we have loved God first, but that He loved us and sent His unique Son on a special mission to become an atoning sacrifice for our sins."

What is the takeaway message?

For me, this is an incredibly complex song from my own personal perspective. In the face of the suffering we see today, and in a lot of ways, there's been a lot of improvements in our world. Global poverty is down, and globally violent crime is down, but because we live in a very connected age in this world, we see a lot more of the global suffering happening all around us. 

With the Syrian civil war happening, I see images every day that are so overwhelming. I often feel like my prayers are like yelling into a void. It's so disheartening sometimes to see that level of pain and suffering. 

One of the things in this song which is a good thing for me to cling to is the idea that in Genesis that God stirred the void and He is always making things new again. He not only made things new in the beginning, but He makes them new all the time. For me to not give into despair, it's a good thing to sit and meditate about. Even in the most dark and dastardly of things, I'm clinging to the hope that God is redeeming all of it. I just don't see it. I'm here down in the middle, just a soul among souls who are suffering. 

I think for me in the song, repeating the phrase over and over again, "Your mercies are new, Your mercies are new, new every morning" is a good thing for me because I struggle to not fall into despair when I see so much suffering. This song is a really good meditation for me. I really believe that in seeing the mercy of God every day, we need to live that mercy out in the world. Seeing the mercy of God and not despairing has to involve incorporating that mercy into the hands and feet of people.
 
Lyrics:
In the beginning, You hovered over the water
You broke an unbroken silence
You spoke light into darkness
And there was light

In the beginning, we were made in Your image
And we were naked without shame
Till we fell for the darkness
And there was night

Your mercies are new
Your mercies are new
New every morning

In the beginning, there was the Word and He was God
And the Word was with God
And He dwelt among us
And there was life

Oh, in the beginning, the Lamb of God was broken
And His life was poured out
For the sins of the world
And there was life

Your mercies are new
Your mercies are new
New every morning

At the cross, at the cross
Where I first saw Your light
At the cross, at the cross

I received my sight
At the cross, at the cross
Where You laid down Your life

Your mercies are new
Your mercies are new
New every morning

These excellent songs on Inheritance: Deluxe Edition are all prayers and personal confessions of submission to God. These are great songs to pray along with Audrey and express your own yearnings for holiness and God's presence. There are no filler tracks, and this is easily one of my top "gourmet" albums of the year. If you want to experience an uplifting, soul-stirring, stunning and worshipful album, look no further. This is sure to be one of the top worship albums of the year. I'm sure it will continue to challenge, inspire and move me. 

This song reflects the yearning for Jesus to that I pray for my daughters to feel in their hearts as well. We raise our hands to celebrate and in surrender. We can lift up our hands in confidence to God and know that His mercy is unfailing. His love is never-ending. He is our refuge and our strength. His mercies are new every morning. 

"New Every Morning" is an emotive and poetic description of a beautiful picture of what Jesus did for us. You'll want to join fellow believers in singing these words. You'll be worshipping right along with Audrey. You can sincerely pray these biblical and prayerful words, clinging to the truth of this powerful song. The word of the Lord doesn't return void, and this song puts God's Word in the mouths of believers, reminding them of the truth of God's promises.

The Lamentations 3:22-23 passage and this song challenges me to want to know God more deeply, and have more faith and security in my relationship with God. The whole song and album is about crying out for God's presence, and desiring to know Him personally. Let's strive to know God, and He will come to us. We have the privilege to know Him, and if you are a follower of Jesus, He lives in you and has made you His home. You can know with certainty, "In the beginning, there was the Word and He was God, and the Word was with God, and He dwelt among us, and there was life." Amen to that!