We Will Rise is the newest full-length album by Natasha Owens. Serving as a sequel to No One But You, the album's songs are based on her personal experience of her father's sudden and tragic passing and reliance on God to process her life situation. The songs on We Will Rise focus on overcoming and empowerment through our faith in Christ. 

I previously spoke with Natasha about the title track "We Will Rise" for a behind the song devotional. In connection with her new album's release, I had the chance to speak with Natasha about her latest single "I Am Loved."

Please tell me the personal story behind this song.

The Scripture says we have the power of life and death in our tongues. That's how powerful the tongue is. For me, when I was going through depression, I had fear and anxiety. I would speak that fear and anxiety, and I would call death into my situation and into my mindset by speaking negativity. We have to speak life. We have to speak things like "I am a child of the King, and I am loved." 

In order to speak that, I needed to understand how much God loves me with His true agape love. There's nothing that we can do to cause Him to love us any more or any less than He already does. Coming from a very strict religious background, I always thought He loved me from my works and the things I could do for Him to buy His love. We can't buy His love or cause Him to decrease His love. It took me awhile to grasp how much He loved me, to be secure in that. 

That thought goes into this song, as well as speaking life to others. It's true that it takes one kind thought and one kind word to change your mindset. If you speak negativity and that seed is planted, it starts growing immediately and it takes over everything. You have to combat it with faith, which is built by our hearing. If we can speak it and proclaim it, our faith increases and our mindset changes. That was our thought process when we sat down to write this song.

Which Bible verses connect to the message of the song?

Psalm 19:14 (NKJV): "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my strength and my Redeemer."
 
Matthew 15:18 (NKJV): "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man."
 
James 3:9-10 (NIV): "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be."

Psalm 139:14 (NIV): "I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
 
Psalm 139:17-18 (NKJV): "How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; When I awake, I am still with You."

Deuteronomy 31:6 (NKJV): "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."

Romans 12:2 (Voice): "Do not allow this world to mold you in its own image. Instead, be transformed from the inside out by renewing your mind. As a result, you will be able to discern what God wills and whatever God finds good, pleasing, and complete."

What is the takeaway message?

With this album, I wanted each song to be about rising above. My first album was about making it through. Now I wanted each song to equip the listener in some way to know how to rise above your circumstance. This song is about speaking life. The album is called We Will Rise, and we had released the first half of the songs as an EP, and now we've released the full album with the rest of the songs. 

Seven years ago my dad was cleaning his gun, and there was a bullet in the chamber, and it went off and hit him in his heart and he died. Life as I knew it seemed to end that day, pressed the pause button. After the shock wore off, I spiraled down into depression and got angry. My anger and bitterness caused me to speak negativity, and I spoke myself into depression. It was nobody's fault but mine. If I had been speaking about how great God was and how much He loves me I wouldn't have been that depressed. I was mad because He took my dad. I knew better. I've been raised in church. My faith was shaken, but my anchor wasn't completely hooked to God. I was shackled by negativity, fear and anxiety. I feared God could take my loved ones. 

The very first words we wrote for the song are "everything that we want is on the other side of fear, and in between it can feel like we are never getting near, with your words start speaking life." When we overcome fear, it starts breaking chains and everything else to where you can do what God needs you to do in His Kingdom. My pastor called and asked me to be a music minister. God gave him the words to tell me that "if you obey what God wants you to do and walk by faith, He will give you an unending flow that could only come from Him." I've been training my mind and training my tongue to deal with anxiety and fear and arming myself with truth. Combat those emotions with the Word of God.

Lyrics:
Everything that we say is powerful and real
How one kind word can change the way that we feel
With your words start speaking life
From the depths of my heart, I will sing to the One
Hallelujah
From the depths of my heart, I will sing

I am loved...I am free...I am saved
I am loved....by the power of Your name
I am loved...I am healed...I can say
By the life that You gave
With every breath I take
I am loved
I am loved

Don't believe everything thought
That's running through your mind
You're a child of the King
Stop believing all the lies
With your words start speaking life

From the depths of my heart, I will sing to the One
Hallelujah
From the depths of my heart, I will sing
I'm gonna sing
I am loved...I am free...I am saved
I am loved....by the power of Your name
I am loved...I am healed...I can say
By the life that You gave
With every breath I take
I am loved

Not because of the things I've done
All because of the Holy One
Who loved me when I was un-loveable, so un-loveable
I am loved

I am loved...I am free...I am saved
I am loved....by the power of Your name
I am loved...I am healed...I can say
By the life that You gave
With every breath I take

I am loved...I am free...I am saved
I am loved....by the power of Your name
I am loved...I am healed...I can say
By the life that You gave
With every breath I take
I am loved
Thank You God
I am loved
Yes I thank You, Lord
I am loved
You've been so good to me

I try to tell my wife and my three daughters how much I love them every day, and that they are all truly beautiful because of their identity in Christ. For me, having three young daughters, it is so important for them to hear this message. They need to look so far beyond what the world says and really find their true identities in the Lord. These songs are about finding our identity in Christ and not allowing doubts and fears to control our lives, but instead knowing we are sons and daughters of God, and He created each one of us in His image. Rather than wallow in self-pity and misery, we need to live each day knowing that despite circumstances, God has a plan for "those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28).

"I Am Loved" really reminds listeners of the power of words and the need to "tame our tongues" from James 3. The tongue is capable of use for both virtue and vice. The same mouth uses the tongue for these contradictory purposes. The message throughout the album is to know that you don't have to be perfect; God made you the way you are for a reason. You are beautiful, you have something to say and you are worth it. Joy isn't just a happy emotion. It is also a deep peace and understanding, knowing that we are loved without a shadow of a doubt.

This song is a daily prayer asking God to come and change our hearts and change our lives in such a way that our behavior and the way we live flows from God living inside of us as believers. Only Jesus can give us our true identity. What a powerful expression of what it means to accept that God never leaves or forsakes us as His followers. He is all we need. Join in with Natasha as she prays: "Thank You God, I am loved, yes I thank You Lord, I am loved, You've been so good to me." Amen to that!

Watch the lyric video below.