Mountains. Waterfalls. Rivers. Campfires. Sunrises. 4 women. A drone and a mini-van. These are the makings of the "Find You Here" music video. I wrote "Find You Here" about the profound peace my family and I experienced in the wake of a cancer diagnosis for my dad. It didn't make any sense to have peace with so many questions and unknowns on the horizon, but we really did experience God drawing near to our broken hearts in a palpable and beautiful way. Emmanuel. God with us. The song is a celebration of the faithfulness of God, and how He shows up in the most unlikely, most broken places.
I wanted the video to capture this celebration, so we drove to the Appalachian Mountains. It was a beautiful thing to sing that song over and over again in such beautiful places, with a beautiful team of women capturing all of it on film. My favorite shot is the one of me singing as the sun was coming up over a beautiful valley. It was DARK on the drive there, and we had stayed up late the night before to capture the campfire shots. I was trying to put on my makeup and do my hair in a moving mini-van using the photo booth app on my computer. I would not recommend this. I struggled. We were tired and unsure if the location we had picked would work, but all was GRACE as the sun started to transform the valley below us. I was overwhelmed by the reminder that His mercies are new each morning, and if you look closely enough in those shots that Lindley, our director, captured on top of that mountain, you can see my eyes welling up with tears of gratitude, that God's love is as constant as the sun that rises each morning, and that His light and love can swallow up the darkness. Because light is ALWAYS stronger than the darkness. I couldn’t believe that as we were filming the video for this song that celebrates God’s faithfulness in the midst of some of the darkest days that I have known, God was painting a picture of this in the sky and in that beautiful valley on that October morning.
I've been so excited to share this video with you, and my prayer is that it might find you in the middle of the messes, the weariness, the pain, the doubt, and shine the light of God’s truth and His love into whatever darkness you might be facing today.
For the record:
I love the team of women that surrounded me to make this video possible. Lindley Atkinson, our director and producer. Sam Steele, my manager. Shelby Goldsmith, videographer, and I worked for a beautiful 48 hours to make this lovely video. We hiked. We got lost on backroads because we were chasing the light and trying to capture every moment we could on film. We laughed. We shared stories in the mini van. We gave my van a serious reason to need a car wash. We got directions and guidance from a Hungarian man who runs a small business for local hikers, and we let our hearts beat fast as we took in the beauty that surrounded us on those fall days in October, when filmed this video. We “might” have had to be resourceful with toilet paper on location, and I also “might” have been hit ever so slightly on the shoulder by the drone we used at one point, but I am so grateful that the images we captured communicate the beauty of God's faithfulness to draw near to our breaking hearts. Hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it!
Thanks,
Ellie