Nathan Pacheco released “Forever” on his 2017 album, Higher. The tune was originally written by Kari Jobe for her 2014 album, Majestic. Pacheco dropped the drums and electric instruments in favor of a more intimate piano and string driven arrangement. The addition of a chorus at the end was an excellent choice for building the mood.
In an interview with LDS Living he explained how “Forever” found its way onto Higher. Years before, Nathan’s brother sent him Kari Jobe’s original recording and Nathan knew he wanted to perform it one day. Unfortunately, life got in the way and he would forget about the tune until the premature birth of his son, 5 weeks before the due date.
“I’ve never been a fan of pain and blood, and so as I saw them poking him all over and drawing blood and sticking IVs all over the place, I was having a pretty rough time,” Pacheco says. While their son was in the hospital, Pacheco and his wife would take turns watching him. “Everything was so uncertain and it was something completely foreign to the both of us,” Pacheco says. “I would hold him for hours and for much of the time just listen to music on my headphones. During a day when my heart was particularly heavy, I was listening to the song ‘Forever.’ And when the song was at its climax, I lost it. I sat there completely bawling as I held him. The meaning of the song reached me to the core—that the Lord really had overcome all things. ‘Even though I was bawling, I felt sustained by the most amazing peace— what I believe the scriptures describe as that peace that passes all understanding, meaning that even during times where it makes no sense whatsoever for us to feel peace, we can feel it. That’s the peace that only the Lord can give.”
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And today we celebrate...