Song Story: Sons & Daughters
by Yvonne Ng
"So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God's Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him "Abba, Father. For his spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God's children."
(Romans 8:15-16)
Before I joined Awaken Generation, songwriting to me was always more of an ad-hoc thing, something that I did as & when inspiration hit. It was only after coming back from the mission field in 2012 that I realized that writing songs was not just a hobby, but a gift that had to be faithfully stewarded. When I discovered AG many months later, I knew it was the perfect opportunity to work on this gift that he gave me.
It was at one of the Awaken Generation meetings that this song idea started to unfold. In May, Josh Yeoh (international worship leader) came to minister to us about hosting God’s presence. One thing he shared really stuck with me, which was about the importance of aligning our hearts with the Father. I remember God giving me the phrase Sons & Daughters as the session continued.
It dawned on me that God is not seeking after people who just go to church on Sundays or worship Him routinely; He is seeking after people who firstly know their identity as His sons & daughters. Sometimes as seasoned Christians, we forget His sovereignty over our lives & become susceptible to the slave mentality. I must do good things all the time to be a good Christian. If I don’t, God will not love me. How untrue this is, for Christ died for us to adopt the mantle of sonship, & not slaveship! He is for us, not against us.
Christ died for us to adopt the mantle of sonship, & not slaveship.
Anyway, back to the song idea: Sons & Daughters. Somehow, this little phrase stuck with me for the whole week & I knew that I had to write a song about it. The song started coming together later in the week, after I decided to get on the piano & ask God to inspire me. Amazingly enough, I wrote the entire first draft of Sons & Daughters in half an hour!
We are sons & daughters of God Chains are broken, they are broken We are sons & daughters of God Sin defeated, we are victorious!
Since its release, Sons & Daughters has been viewed over 16 000 times & has reached close to 70 000 people. If anything, writing this song has taught me that if everyone has a common identity & confidence in Him, we are like a mighty army that can defeat anything, breaking down walls relentlessly, unashamedly & victoriously.
It's not about me but it's all about Him.
Cheers, Yvonne
P.S. You can download the free MP3 track of Sons & Daughters here, as well as the original chord charts.