Battles

This empowering profession of faith in Jesus amidst life's struggles was the last song The Afters wrote for their Live On Forever record. Lead singer Josh Havens told NewReleaseToday: "I feel that it captures one of the over-arching themes of the album which is that God is working on our behalf. In our times of need and our times of struggle, in our times of pain and sadness, God is with us. He actually goes before us and is an Advocate for us when we are facing things we think or feel might be bigger than us. When we were writing the song, we had some friends going through some hard things. These last couple of years have been seasons with a lot of valleys and a lot of pain, losing people we love. We wanted to write a song that was encouragement for those times, something you can latch onto and claim in those times as a proclamation that God is in control and we trust Him."

As The Afters were working on the song, one of Havens' closest friends from high school told him that his wife had been diagnosed with stage four cancer. The family's faith in God amidst their difficult circumstances proved to be an inspiration. Havens said: "They have two kids, and they are my age. I saw a post where they were going in for her chemo treatments, and the whole family put on superhero costumes where they were wearing masks and capes. They went in knowing that God was with them in the fight. I admired the faith they had, facing cancer and trusting God and knowing that He is fighting alongside of them and fighting on their behalf."

The Afters also included in the song part of 2 Chronicles 20, which tells of how King Jehoshaphat and the people of Judah were delivered by God from a huge opposing army. The Old Testament tale recounts how the King was told, "you don't even need to fight this battle," as the battle was His. Havens said: "We thought that was such a cool picture of what the power of God can do for us. It is a reminder that in our times of struggle and when we are facing things that seem they are greater than anything we can handle, we need to trust God, pray and praise Him. Know that just like David went before Goliath with the power of God on his side and defeated the giant, we can face anything that comes our way when God is with us."