Initially released on Sarah Kroger’s sophomore album, ‘Light’, during the peak of a global healthcare crisis, ‘Belovedness’ found a beautiful following for those battling with mental health challenges. From a barn turned studio nestled in the countryside bordering London, UK, the revisited live version of this song captures the intimate settings of its recording.

This collaboration with Northern Irish singer-songwriter Nathan Jess offers listeners a version that oozes with sweetness, truth, and a message of healing hope.

“This song feels like it comes from the Father’s heart, so having a male vocalist on it this time around felt important to me,” Kroger comments. While reading Henri Nouwen’s book ‘Life of The Beloved’, the artist realized that she was only owning her mistakes instead living out of her belovedness. The powerfully soothing ballad was born from her journey of owning the truth of her identity as a child of God, and inviting others to join in.

“I think identity is a universal, multigenerational struggle” Kroger says. “Ever since this song released 2 years ago, I have been absolutely stunned by the response […] my prayer is that this song can continue to be a healing balm for those who have allowed the lies to tell them who they are,” she continues. ‘Belovedness’ is a song that goes beyond the walls of the Church into a world saturated with noise and confusion and invites people on the journey of letting the Truth grow. Sarah Kroger’s standout track is still a source of calm, encouragement, and reassuring rescue to listeners. A safe place to land and unwind, as she concludes: “This is who we are, and it’s literally an instruction: be loved.”

Sarah Kroger

“Belovedness (Live)” is available now.

Nashville-based worship leader Sarah Kroger releases a new single with a soulful version of ‘What A Wonderful World’. The song a statement as to what can be expected from Kroger’s newest creative exploration as she gears up to a new EP early in the new year.

‘What A Wonderful World’, despite not being a standard church song, is full of the artist’s love for Christ and his endless beauty expressed through her sweet and crisp vocals gliding a stunning stripped-back soundscape. Though not being labelled as a worship song, ‘What A Wonderful World’ is an articulation of the human experience in which people from all backgrounds, be they religious or not, can hopefully recognize themselves.

The new single is a song of hope and wonder through which Kroger desires to encourage people on their personal journey.

Her upcoming project is a “meeting of the streams” moment where every song speaks to where the singer-songwriter has been, but also to where she is and is going. Kroger’s new version of this classic reinforces her heart to serve the Global Church with songs to sing over people, while providing a musical balm that challenges, uplifts, encourages, and comforts all who hear.

“What A Wonderful World” is available now.

 Integrity Music announces the new single from Sarah Kroger titled “No Hay Temor En Tu Amor (feat. Blest).” Translated as “No Fear In Love,” the English version is found on her latest album release, 2020’s Light.

A Nashville-based songwriter and worship leader, this is Kroger’s first Spanish single to release. With a deep love and connection to the Spanish language and culture through her mother’s side of the family, it’s always been part of her life and she hopes “No Hay Temor En Tu Amor” is the first of many more to come.

“My grandmother was born in Peru and Spanish was her first language,” Kroger explains. “My mom grew up all over South America and spoke fluent Spanish. Also, as a Catholic, the Hispanic church is a huge part of our faith tradition and what makes up the culture of our church, so I’ve always had a deep love for it and have always wanted to do a song in Spanish.”

“No Hay Temor En Tu Amor” features Blest, the Latin GRAMMY and GMA Dove Awards-nominated band, and Kroger could not be more thrilled with the way the translation came out and with their collaboration. She shares, “It was super special to work with Blest. They’re so sweet and their voices are incredible! I’m just super proud of how it turned out.”

The song speaks to the fear that we often let inform our decisions and who we believe we are. Kroger said that she is no stranger to that struggle and has learned so much as God has grown her over the years. She says, “Fear is absolutely not of the Lord and Scripture tells us perfect love cast out all fear. If we believe that to be true, then we can come to the Lord with our fears and surrender them. It is not His will for us to live in fear. His will for us to live as beloved children of a Father who’s working for our good. We have to continue to surrender our fears, our doubts, the lies we believe, and pick up our identity as beloved children.”

Sarah Kroger released the official music video for her latest single “Belovedness” which can be viewed below. “Belovedness” was co-written with Michael Farren, Tony Wood, and Ben Shive.

“It was written last year, recorded months ago, and the release date was picked weeks ago. I didn’t post about it then, and to be honest, I wasn’t sure when I would,” Kroger shared on social media when speaking about the message of her new song. “I didn’t want to add to the noise unless it would add to the conversation. Then yesterday, I heard a homily by my friend Fr Mike Schmitz and felt convicted that there’s a message in this song for today. While the song isn’t explicitly about racism, it is about the belovedness that each one of us shares.”

Kroger added, “This song was written as a reminder that beloved is our identity. There is nothing we’ve done, no mistake we’ve made, nothing that’s been done to us that can take that away. But this is not simply so that we can feel good, sit back and receive. Beloved is not just our identity, it’s our instruction. Be loved and be love.”

Watch Official Video

LYRICS

You’ve owned your fear and all your self-loathing
You’ve owned the voices inside of your head
You’ve owned the shame and reproach of your failure
It’s time to own your belovedness

You’ve owned your past and how it’s defined you
You’ve owned ev’rything everybody else says
It’s time to hear what your Father has spoken
It’s time to own your belovedness

He says you’re mine
I smiled when I made you
I find you beautiful in ev’ry way
My love for you is fierce and unending
I’ll come to find you, whatever it takes
My beloved

You’ve owned the mess you see in the mirror
You’ve owned the lies that you’re just not enough
You’re been so blinded by all you’re comparing
It’s time to own your belovedness

You are completely loved and fully known
Beloved, believe He died to make your heart His home

Sarah Kroger releases her new single ‘Belovedness’ via Integrity Music.

The song is a prayer and wake up call for people to hold onto the truth that they are beloved. This is who we are, and it’s literally an instruction: beloved.

Sarah Kroger is a Nashville-based, Catholic worship leader and songwriter whose love for music started at a young age. With parents involved in music ministry, she grew up in a musical home and has been singing in church choirs since she was achild. Sarah has spent the last eight years leading worship for events around the world, drawing together people from a variety cultures and church backgrounds under the banner of Jesus.

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Ardent songwriter and worship leader Take Heart, the 11th track off her debut album BLOOM under Integrity Music.

Kroger’s passion has always been to create a safe and prayerful space through her music in which people can encounter the heart of God in a profound way in which must confess she executed profoundly her BLOOM album.

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LYRICS

Let my soul be still God is on my side
I don’t bear this cross alone
There is nothing He will not provide
There is nowhere He won’t go
Let nothing sway my confidence
Though tested is my faith
Take heart, oh child
He is the one the waves and wind obey

Let my soul now rest, I am in Your hands
All my future and my past
As the things of earth grow strangely dim
All will come to light at last
Let nothing sway my confidence
When shaken is my hope
Take heart, oh child
He is the one, His voice the sea still knows

Let my soul begin the song of praise
For the hour is hastening on
When the night shall turn to endless day
And all fear forever gone
When we shall meet beyond the veil
Where love is on the throne
Take heart, oh child
He is the one, whose voice You’ve always known

Take heart, oh child
He is the one
Whose voice will call you home

Written by: Sarah Kroger, Audrey Assad & Matt Maher
© 2019 Integrity’s Praise! Music/Fiat Music/BMI (adm worldwide at CapitolCMGPublishing.com, excluding the UK which is adm by Integrity Music), Fortunate Fall Music (adm by Music Services), I Am Pilgrim Songs/Be Essential Songs/BMI (adm by Essential Music Publishing)

Ardent songwriter and worship leader features John Tibbs on This is my Storry (My song), the 9th track off her debut album BLOOM under Integrity Music.

Kroger’s passion has always been to create a safe and prayerful space through her music in which people can encounter the heart of God in a profound way in which must confess she executed profoundly her BLOOM album.

Sarah Kroger tries to delineate her response to God’s boundless love with John Tibbs help on this one.

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Ardent songwriter and worship leader Wildflower, the 6th track off her debut album BLOOM under Integrity Music.

Kroger’s passion has always been to create a safe and prayerful space through her music in which people can encounter the heart of God in a profound way in which must confess she executed profoundly her BLOOM album.

Some pretty questionable things happen to us in life, but we never know if that is God’s way of making garden for us to bloom. We’re wild flowers after all.

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Integrity Music’s latest artist, worship leader and songwriter Sarah Kroger debuts her first album BLOOM under the eminent label.

Kroger’s label debut takes personal declarations of God’s mercy and shapes them into universal messages of unfathomable love. It features artists Adam Agin and John Tibbs as well as a cover of Amanda Cook’s “Pieces” featuring Audrey Assad, who also produced the album. Combining soaring, atmospheric melodies with Kroger’s sublime vocals,Bloom paints a moving portrait of purpose in the suffering and hope in the struggle.

“My heart comes alive when I’m leading worship,” Sarah Kroger shares. “It’s my hope that this collection of songs will lead people to an encounter with God, whether they’re in their car or at work or a church event or even at their lowest place and need something that will bring a moment of respite and peace.”

Drawing on her own experience, Kroger found herself writing songs for Bloom from a particularly painful moment from her past. When she was 10 years old, her parents divorced, creating a divide in the family as well as the church she’d grown up in as they were worship pastors. Because of the divorce, Kroger moved with her mother and siblings and found herself adrift in a new and unfriendly environment. The experience left a mark, one that manifested into a struggle with depression and anxiety as she was entering college at age 18. It was the lowest point in her life – she felt like God had abandoned her. After time, medication and prayer, Kroger found herself changed.

“I can see now how suffering has made me who I am,” she shares. “If I hadn’t gone through that, I wouldn’t have the faith I now have, the depth of trust. Society tried to define me in a million ways, but I had to cling to what God thinks of me. It comes out in the way I lead worship and prayer and how I talk about God and think about God. It’s part of my make-up and comes out in everything I do”.

It was these seaons that birthed Bloom, a beautiful collection of songs that inspire, reminding the listener of who they are in God, their own belovedness and the freedom found in Christ’s love.

Sarah Kroger is a Nashville-based, Catholic worship leader and songwriter whose love for music started at a young age. With parents involved in music ministry, she grew up in a musical home and has been singing in church choirs since she was a child. Sarah has spent the last eight years leading worship for events around the world, drawing together people from a variety cultures and church backgrounds under the banner of Jesus. Her passion is to create a safe and prayerful space through her music in which people can encounter the heart of God in a profound way. She has released two albums, Your Time (2011) and Hallelujah Is Our Song (2013).

Track Listing (co-writers) for Bloom:

1. Bloom One (Sarah Kroger, Audrey Assad)
2. For Us (Sarah Kroger, Sarah Hart)
3. Highest (Sarah Kroger, Dom Quaglia, Jeremy Mayfield)
4. Freedom In The Spirit (Feat. Adam Agin) (Sarah Kroger, Adam Agin)
5. Open (Sarah Kroger, Sarah Hart, Ross King)
6. Wildflower (Sarah Kroger, Audrey Assad)
7. Pieces (Feat Audrey Assad) (Amanda Cook, Steffany Gretzinger)
8. When I See You (Sarah Kroger, Audrey Assad)
9. This Is My Story (My Song) (Feat. John Tibbs) (Sarah Kroger, Sarah Hart, Audrey Assad)
10. Overcome (Sarah Kroger, Sarah Hart, PJ Anderson)
11. Take Heart (Sarah Kroger, Audrey Assad, Matt Maher)
12. Bloom Two (Sarah Kroger, Audrey Assad)
13. When I See You (Live) (Sarah Kroger, Audrey Assad)

Credits – Hellels

Integrity Music‘s Recording Artist Sarah Kroger features American singer-songwriter Audrey Assad in third single Pieces off BLOOM album.

Kroger, a Melbourne, Florida, native who is now based in Nashville, developed a love for music as a child when she began singing in church choirs while following in the steps of her music minister parents. Her passion is to create a safe, prayerful space through her music in which people can encounter the love of God. She has been doing this for the past eight years, leading worship at events around the world, drawing people together from a variety of cultures and church backgrounds under the banner of Jesus.

Pieces was originally made by Amanda Cooks and it has been one of the most remade, covered and remixed songs in recent times. The Duet from Sarah Kroger and Audrey Assad is quite epic as it gives the all song a different perspective.

Previously Kroger released two independent albums, Your Time (2011) and Hallelujah Is Our Song (2013), that include songs “In The Silence,” “Run To The Cross,” “The King Of Love My Shepherd Is” and “Hallelujah Is Our Song.” Her major label debut, Bloom, release on Integrity April 26.

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LYRICS

[Verse 1: Sarah Kroger]
Unreserved, unrestrained
Your love is wild
Your love is wild for me
It isn’t shy, it’s unashamed
Your love is proud
To be seen with me
To be seen with me

[Chorus: Sarah Kroger & Audrey Assad]
You don’t give Your heart in pieces
You don’t hide Yourself to tease us

[Verse 2: Sarah Kroger & Audrey Assad]
Uncontrolled, uncontained
Your love is a fire
Burning bright for me
It’s not a spark, not just a flame
Your love is a light
And all the world will see
All the world will see

[Chorus: Sarah Kroger & Audrey Assad]
You don’t give Your heart in pieces
You don’t hide Yourself to tease us
You don’t give Your heart in pieces
You don’t hide Yourself to tease us

[Bridge: Sarah Kroger & Audrey Assad]
Your love’s not fractured, it’s not a troubled mind
It isn’t anxious, it’s not the restless kind
Your love’s not passive, it’s never disengaged
It’s always present, it hangs on every word we say
Love keeps its promises, it keeps its word
It honors what’s sacred, ’cause its vows are good
Your love’s not broken, it’s not insecure
Your love’s not selfish, Your love is pure

[Chorus: Sarah Kroger & Audrey Assad]
‘Cause You don’t give Your heart in pieces, oh no
You don’t hide Yourself to tease us, oh-ooh-ooh-oooh
No, You don’t give Your heart in pieces, ooh-oooh, no
No, You don’t hide Yourself to tease us, ooh-oooh-oooh-ooooh

[Outro: Sarah Kroger]
You don’t give Your heart in pieces
You don’t hide Yourself to tease us
You don’t give Your heart in pieces