New Sparrow recording artist Audrey Assad is a worship-leader, songwriter and gifted singer who is going to be a breakout star in CCM. With her popularity rising from her duet with Chris Tomlin on his Christmas album, she is poised to be one of the brightest stars in CCM. Singer/songwriter Audrey Assad, originally from New Jersey and most recently Florida, weaves her captivating voice into a thread of contemplative yet accessible music and lyrics on her debut release The House You’re Building, released on July 13th.

"A lot of new artists come and go quickly in this business,” says Charlie Lowell of Jars of Clay. “Audrey Assad will not be one of those--she's a refreshing artist--a voice comforting and challenging together. Her melodic sensibilities are infectious, and she communicates God's caring and creative heart in a way that cuts through the day-to-day mess of life. It will be a privilege to share the stage with Audrey, and to watch her grow as an artist over the years."

“The record is about faith. It’s about the cross and fear and pain and how God is carrying me even though sometimes it doesn’t feel like it,” Assad explains. “Marshall pulled things out of me emotionally that I don’t think I’d ever accessed, making me realize that every time I sing these songs, I have to channel my pain and walk through it… That’s been my journey the last few years, learning to believe that and walk in that acceptance of God choosing me. That’s what my journey will probably always be. The first reason I write songs is to preach to myself.”

I got the chance to interview Audrey about her hit single, “For Love Of You.” You can listen to our entire conversation here.

Please share the story of how you came to write the song, "For Love Of You."

This song was introduced in my press release as one of the few “angst-free” tunes on the album. Ninety five percent of the time I write my songs based on wrestling with issues, which is my spirituality and what I’ve gone through emotionally. Brad at Sparrow Records challenged me one day to try to write one song that’s different than that. His point was to challenge me to write a song reflecting my joy as a Christian. That was in the back of my mind as I wrote the song, to write about my joy in Christ because I’m normally a melancholy person.

I was on Facebook one day and was reading a post with a line from a poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins called “As Kingfishers Catch Fire.” The line is “But Christ plays in 10,000 places, lovely in limbs and lovely in eyes not His, to the Father, to the features of men’s faces.” So when I read that, I felt so rested by that picture of Christ as a reflection of us. Although we may think of God as elusive sometimes, we only have to look for Him and see Him anytime we want. I had a similar reaction to thinking about God being able to be found just by looking at things He made like blades of grass. Looking at God’s creation, we can see Him all around us. So, that’s the story behind the inspiration of this song.

Please tell me about the Bible verses you used in writing the song?

My favorite Psalm is Psalm 103.

Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits: Who forgives all your iniquities, Who heals all your diseases, Who redeems your life from destruction, Who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies, Who satisfies your mouth with good things, So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

How has that passage and the message of this song been a part of your life?

As a melancholy person, I have to admonish myself to praise God. All of Psalm 103 really challenges me to praise God and have joy in Him. Thanks for asking me the question about my favorite Bible passage as now that I think about it, my favorite Psalm totally ties in to the message of this song.

In a way, this song is like me writing my own Psalm in the same style of David. Something about prayer I’ve noticed my whole life is that when I was younger I would feel guilty if I didn’t feel like I meant every word of my prayer. I’ve noticed that a part of prayer is the formation of our souls. When we kneel or raise our hands, we’re not motivated by fire in our hearts. Overall, we are teaching our body to have a posture of prayer and teach our souls to know who God is in our lives. I don’t feel the words of “For Love of You” every day in my prayer life. However as I sing the song over and over, I am teaching myself that I can’t get away from the Love of God. When I was in middle school and high school I was the kid that everyone picked on, I liked school and I was in band. God is huge and He loves us no matter what we think of ourselves. That’s my message for young girls and people who feel like outsiders.

Here are the lyrics:

You live in a million places
Your fingerprints can be seen on a million faces
and there's a trace of You
in every alleluia
every song that I sing

For love of You
I'm a sky on fire
Because of You
I come alive
It's Your Sacred Heart within me beating
Your voice within me singing
(out for love of You)

It's all for You

You are the highway I travel
cause I watched You carve streets of gold
from sin and gravel
I gave You brokenness
You gave me innocence
and now this road leads to glory

You are my deepest longing
so I see You everywhere
it's You I'm chasing after
cause I am captivated by who You are
and how You move
I'll follow You forever


I immediately connected to the message of this song. Audrey has a phenomenal singing voice which reminds me of the top female vocalists in the business, Brooke Ligertwood, Christy Nockels and Adie, which is amazing company in my opinion. This song resonates for me in the same way that Audrey described for herself, which is that by singing along with these words, the prayer and sentiment of the song seeps into my soul. Try praying along sincerely the way that David prayed in the Psalms, especially in the bridge “You are my deepest longing, so I see You everywhere, it’s You I’m chasing after, cause I am captivated by who You are and how You move, I’ll follow You forever.”

If you feel like an outsider or quirky or eccentric, know that God loves you no matter what. We are all made in His image, and Audrey sings a great biblical truth in this song about how God saves us from sin. “Give Him your brokenness,” and “He’ll give you innocence.”

You can listen to this great song here.