Song Story: Here With Us
You keep in perfect peace
Those whose minds are stayed upon you
Whose hearts are set up on you, God
You keep in perfect peace
Those whose trust is in your promise
Whose strength is in you, Jesus
You are faithful even in the fire
You never leave or forget us
You are here with us
Through the darkest night
You're singing over us
Underneath your wings
Your feathers cover us
We're held within the everlasting arms
Faithful One
You are our strength, you are our song
Living One, we will remember what you've done
Present One, we give you praise forever
Because your love is better
Our God and our defender
In the midst of a year of pandemic and lockdowns, fires and trials, God has been faithful, longing to remind us of His wonderful and steadfast promises.
Early in 2020, my husband, three children and I were gathered in our lounge room worshipping our good God and crying out for His intervention in the Australian bushfires. Most of all, we were praying for our friends who lived on a property that was literally surrounded by fires.
Bushfires near Canberra, 2020. Photo: Jessica Chapman.
As we did this, I began to sing out: “You are faithful, even in the fire. You never leave or forget us.” We sang this over and over as a family, recorded it as a clip and I sent it as an encouragement to my friend who was sitting on her water tank looking out for spot fires on their farm. God was indeed faithful and worked a miracle in that situation. This was the beginnings of the song.
In the months preceding and following, we were often noticing feathers in our pathway. Our littlest one picked up on this, and would excitedly pick up a feather and say “another feather, Mummy!”. Although feathers can often be found, to us we were clearly being reminded by God of Psalm 91:4 -
He will cover you with his feathers and under His wings you will find refuge. His faithful promises will be your constant protection.
‘Feather’ by Elana Geddes.
As the pandemic unfolded and there was a real weight and heaviness of hearing about job loss, sickness, death, depression and fear gripping many hearts, it became all the more important to fix our minds on what is lovely (Philippians 4:8) and press in to keep Heaven’s perspective at the forefront of our thoughts. There is an amazing, perfect peace that comes as we dwell on who our God is and on His faithful promises to us. I took many of the promises that God was reminding me and our family of, and formed them into this song so that we could encourage ourselves in the Lord.
I pray that as you hear and sing out these words, you too will know this perfect peace and the beauty of being surrounded by a God who notices and cares for us through every fire and dark night of our souls.
HERE WITH US
with Scripture references
You keep in perfect peace
Those whose minds are stayed upon you (Isaiah 26:3)
Whose hearts are set upon you God (Colossians 3:2, Philippians 4:8)
You keep in perfect peace
Those trust is in Your promise (2 Peter 1:4)
Whose strength is in you, Jesus (Psalm 84:5)
You are faithful, even in the fire (Daniel 3, Isaiah 43:2)
You never leave or forget us (Matthew 28:20, Psalm 73:23, Deuteronomy 31:8, Exodus 4:31, John 14:18)
You are here with us
Through the darkest night you’re singing over us (Zephaniah 3:17)
Underneath your wings your feathers cover us (Psalm 91:4)
We’re held within the everlasting arms (Deuteronomy 33:27)
Faithful One
You are our strength, You are our song (Psalm 118:14, Exodus 15:2)
Living One
We will remember what you’ve done (Psalm 77:11)
Present One
We give you praise forever (Psalm 145:1)
Because your love is better (Psalm 63:3)
Our God and our defender (Psalm 34:7, Proverbs 18:10)