With an eagerness to help others far exceeding her 25 years, Meredith Andrews has been leading worship since high school, currently at Harvest Bible Chapel in Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and is passionate about helping orphans in India and Guatemala. Singing about God's grace, love and hope for the broken is yet another form of outreach for her. Meredith's debut album, The Invitation, showcases powerful vocals accentuated by beautiful piano melodies. The recurring theme of the album is restoration: God invites us to come as we are, regardless of where we are in our lives. All we have to do is receive His invitation.

I've been greatly enjoying the album since last year, and in particular was struck by the Biblical truth of the current single, "New Song We Sing." It is a catchy, upbeat praise and worship song and really fits the theme of the album, which is that God extends His grace to us not because we deserve it, but because of our imperfection.

Recently I got to interview Meredith about her great song and this is the background she shared with me about "New Song We Song."

What’s the message behind, "New Song We Sing"?

The song is based on the Psalms and David’s message to sing a new song to the Lord, but relative to The Invitation, the song is about how we once were so far away and were brought near by the blood of Jesus and that the barrier between us and God has been destroyed.

How can listeners apply that message in their walk with God?

God isn’t looking for any perfect people. The concept of singing a new song to the Lord is one based on celebration and joy in the freedom from sin that we gain from Christ. That’s the application of the song and the album, to accept that invitation.

What verses did you use in writing the song?

2nd Corinthians 5:17-19: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

Here are the lyrics to "New Song We Sing"

You are the God who reconciles the wayward heart through Christ
The old has gone the new has come
We are reconciled by love
We are reconciled by love

And this is the new song we sing
To the king of heaven
This is the new song we bring
After all You've given
We stand before You redeemed
As Your children
This is the new song we sing

We who were once so far away are brought near by Your blood
The barrier has been destroyed
By Your grace we freely come
By Your grace we freely come

We live in You
We live for You
We live to You our King
We stand in You
We stand for You
We stand as Your redeemed
Your redeemed!

Every now and then this happens where I like an album and an artist and at first take the message of a song for granted. Some recent examples for me are "While I’m Waiting," by John Waller; "You Found Me," by Big Daddy Weave; and "Free To Be Me," by Francesca Battistelli. What I mean is that the message of the song seems so basic and true that I don’t recognize the deeper truth until digging into the actual meaning 'behind the song.' "New Song We Sing" is a great example of why I write these devotionals, as the song is not just about the chorus of the new song we sing, but the meaning is much deeper. This is a song to be celebrate the freedom we have in Christ and lift up our voices in unison to share in the truth of that 2nd Corinthians passage: the old has gone, the new has come!

You can watch a video of the song here.