We all have those times in life when we’re struggling and we can’t seem to make sense of things. Mountains was written in one of those periods.

There were things happening in my life which were making me ask ‘why a loving God would do that?’ and ‘why is that part of my life not panning out like others?’ I knew God had a plan for me, but I sometimes found it hard to believe.

However, I found great encouragement in Proverbs 16 and started to turn this to song. It was then that I stumbled upon this wonderful promise and imagery in Psalm 125 which says those who trust in the Lord are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. In the Old Testament, Mount Zion was seen as the place where God dwelt and signified his reign for eternity. Looking at this through the lens of the New Testament, because of Jesus’ death on the cross and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, God now dwells inside of us. This spoke powerfully to me; when we trust in God and receive him into our lives, we are unshakable and nothing in this world can come between us and God.

The song for a long period only had one verse (the first one), and at the time, this was enough; I felt the pre-chorus, with its jazz based chord progression, and chorus were powerful enough to have only the single verse. It was only when I had the amazing opportunity to travel to Israel that it ended up how it is today. What I noticed whilst in Jerusalem was that Mount Zion isn’t particularly impressive in terms of size, but the larger hills all around it create a kind of natural protection. It was at this point a friend of mine pointed out that this imagery could be a really powerful addition about God’s protection. Knowing God has a plan for you is one thing, but also knowing he has his hands of protection around you at all times makes that promise so much more powerful. This is what the second verse is based on with the whole verse coming together in a matter of minutes!

Whilst this song has been a great encouragement to me, I hope and pray that it can be a blessing to others. Life may become difficult, but God does have a plan for each and everyone of us and, when we trust in Jesus, we will not be shaken.