Ann had a big vision for her life. She went to seminary to better serve kids and their families. As she prepared for graduation, the pain in her back worsened. A series of appointments and tests revealed a word she never expected: cancer.
One day, the pain became so intense that she was rushed to the hospital. I was sitting at my friend’s bedside, holding her hand and praying. The room got quiet, and it felt like something was pressing against your chest. I knew she was slowly dying.
I opened my Bible app that day because I didn't know what else to do. I read these words in Psalm 46: "God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble." I wanted to believe that. I did believe it! But belief and grief were sitting side by side in that chair, and I wasn't sure which one was winning.
Do you know that feeling? Perhaps you believe the right things. Maybe you've sung the songs. But somewhere between what you know and what you're living, there's a gap developing. That's exactly the gap that Garett & Kate Serban are singing into.
Garett and Kate are part of the Bethel Music collective, and their song "Sing of Your Love" is built on a simple but sturdy declaration: God is still worth singing about. Not someday, when things get better. Today, even if we’re sitting in a hospital room.
The duo described the heart behind the song this way: "'Sing of Your Love' holds a special place in our hearts, and we are so grateful for the power this song holds and the truth that it declares. We serve the one true living God who can save, heal, and deliver — the only God who is alive, actively speaking, and who desires a relationship with us…. We pray that through this song, hearts are reignited to give God all the praise He deserves."
Three moments in the lyrics offer us real hope during hard times. Garett and Kate sing, "Grace…That saved this broken heart and made it new again." The word "grace" gets used so often in Christian circles that it can start to feel like the furniture in your house. It’s always there, but you rarely notice it anymore. But the song refuses to let grace stay in the background. It pulls it front and center with one word: amazing!
I love the tense they chose for the lyric "made it new again." The past tense means something already happened. The grace that saved you isn't waiting on your circumstances to improve before it activates. Psalm 46:1 says God is "always ready to help in times of trouble. He’s not ready after trouble or on the other side of trouble, but in the middle of it. That's where His grace shows up!
The second moment that captured me in their lyrics was, "I will sing of Your love forever.” In Ann's hospital room, I was reading Psalm 46 out loud because I was reaching for God’s strength and pleading for His love to lessen my friend’s pain.
When we sing of God’s forever-kind-of-love, we’re reaching for a wider frame to look through than our current season. When Paul closes out Romans 8 by saying that nothing in life or death can separate us from the love of God, he's handing each of us a frame so large that even the worst thing you're living through doesn't get the final word.
Finally, I paused when Garett and Kate sang, "Only You have the power to heal / You are the reason I sing." This is where I felt the song became incredibly honest.
"Only You have the power to heal" means that healing may not happen. I've known faithful, praying people who didn't get the outcome they were asking for, including my friend.
In Ann’s room, I read Psalm 46:10, which says, "Be still, and know that I am God!" The tears started flowing down my face, and they didn’t stop. Psalm 46:10 reminds us that God is in rooms where nothing is fine. The stillness it describes isn't numbness nor denial. This stillness is trust and surrender.
"You are the reason I sing,” when sung through tears or joyful celebration, is true worship. Perhaps it's the most honest kind of worship there is.
Ann died several months later. My grief was real, and it took a long time to settle. But I’ll never forget how God met us in that room through the truths of Psalm 46, which are now set to beautiful music in “Sing of Your Love.”
I’m so glad that Garett and Kate didn't write a song for people who have it all together. Instead, they offered a gift to people who believe God is worth singing about and are singing with passion, even when their world is shaking or their heart is breaking.
What would it look like for you to sing of His love today, to be still and know that He is still God?
Scott Savage is a pastor, author, and speaker who loves tacos, matcha, and sneakers. With more than twenty years of ministry experience, he teaches with a blend of Biblical truth, emotional awareness, and the compassion shaped by his own struggles.
Scott's writing has impacted over six million readers through trusted platforms such as the YouVersion Bible App, Air1 Radio, and Our Daily Bread. Whether speaking on a stage or writing on a page, he offers a steady, empathetic voice that reassures people they are seen, loved, and not beyond God's healing reach. Forty thousand subscribers from over fifty countries are excited to read his free newsletter every Tuesday morning. You can join that list today at ScottSavageLive.com!
