I have had very little experience with death. For that reason I felt I shouldn’t write this song. But the prompting was strong. I told my husband Sunday morning of the October 2018 General Conference about my prompting. I said, “If there is a talk about death, I will know for sure I need to write a song about this.” First talk of that morning was President Ballard’s talk, “The Vision of the Redemption of the Dead.” Heavenly Father blessed me with reassurance.

I started off trying to write about what happens when a person dies. Shortly after doing this I was stumped. I prayed about it. Later I had an impression to focus the song on the Savior. No wonder I wasn’t being inspired. Without the Savior, there would be no hope associated with death. The sting of death would be unbearable. Reading Doctrine & Covenants 138, as suggested by Elder Ballard, I found my chorus in verses 23-24: “And the saint rejoiced in their redemption, and bowed the knee and acknowledged the Son of God as their Redeemer and Deliverer from death and the chains of hell. Their countenances shone, and the radiance from the presence of the Lord rested upon them, and they sang praises unto his holy name.” That was a good place to start.

My first draft was about how people feel sorrow but, there’s Christ, so all will be OK. I felt like it was insensitive. I read articles and listened to people about their experiences. Some people who experienced the death of someone close said people would tell them they must be so grateful for the Savior and not address their grief. I really wanted to rewrite the lyrics to validate that everyone experiences a wide range of sad emotions: grief, sorrow, loneliness, anger, confusion while still manifesting the hope of Christ.

Let’s say to get that idea across took a lot of work. But every times I came up with something that worked, I was elated! I finished the song the week before April 2019 General Conference. At conference President Nelson spoke about people who refuse to receive essential ordinances. He said, “while there is a place for them hereafter–with wonderful men and women who also chose not to make covenants with God–that is not the place where families will be reunited and given the privilege to live and progress forever.”