Singer Hillary Scott of the country band Lady A, formerly known as Lady Antebellum, expressed gratitude after being nominated for a Grammy alongside Christian pop duo For King & Country for their collaboration on a song titled "For God is With Us.”
"Happy to have gotten to spend this weekend celebrating a special nomination with these two and our families. Joel and Luke [Smallbone], thank you for your continued kindness and friendship," Scott wrote on Instagram on Monday.
Included in the post was a picture of her on the red carpet with the two Smallbone brothers from For King & Country.
"What a journey from recording For God is With Us to tonight. I'll celebrate this collaboration forever."
During an interview with Fox News, Scott said "For God is With Us" conveys a message that is needed to be heard today.
"This song is just an important message. It's about the bringer of hope, where we find our hope, and to be able to tell this story and hopefully point others to finding that hope themselves just really is important," she said. "Now more than ever, the world needs this message."
As reported by The Christian Post, the song’s lyrics highlight the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and tells the story of how God has always been with humanity throughout Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension, and looks forward to His return.
The words "for God is with us" is repeated in the chorus to stress God's continuous presence no matter the state of the world as it ultimately culminates in the second coming of Christ.
"This song speaks to all circumstances. No matter hardship or great delight, we can all take great comfort in God being with us," the Smallbones told The Christian Post in a statement.
According to the Grammy’s website, Scott and For King & Country have had a friendly rivalry throughout the years when it came to competing against each other for the prestigious award.
“Since 2015, For King & Country has won four Grammys and only lost twice. One of those losses came in 2017 when Hillary Scott & The Scott Family's "Thy Will" took home the golden gramophone for Best Contemporary Christian Music Performance/Song,” The Grammys website states.
At the 2017 Grammys, For King & Country and Scott met for the first time.
"It wasn't on great terms because, you know, we were nominated in the same categories, and she won everything," Joel Smallbone said.
They soon became friends and would often see each other in Nashville and at Sunday church services.
The Smallbone brothers later recruited Scott for their collaborative version of "For God is With Us,” which was released last year.
"Honestly, it was a call that I was so honored to receive from Joel and Luke, just gauging my interest in a collaboration," Scott said. "Over the years, we've run into each other at so many different events."
Meanwhile, Joel Smallbone says that the song is meant to convey the Gospel to the world.
"[It] became maybe the most spiritually overt song that we've ever written, about the journey of the birth, the death, and the redemption of Jesus Christ. We just stayed sensitive to what the song wanted to be," he said, according to the Grammy website.
"The ultimate [version] of the song was when Hillary's voice was on it. It was like, 'Ah, that's what it was always meant to be.' Our only frustration may be that she's not on the original version."
Photo Credit: ©Getty Images/Amanda Edwards/Stringer
Milton Quintanilla is a freelance writer and content creator. He is a contributing writer for CrosswalkHeadlines and the host of the For Your Soul Podcast, a podcast devoted to sound doctrine and biblical truth. He holds a Masters of Divinity from Alliance Theological Seminary.
