Music was pumping around Shauna Edwards as she sat in the conference center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Salt Lake City.
It was the Saturday morning session of October 2025 General Conference, and the Tabernacle Choir in Temple Square was singing an arrangement of her 2006 song “Because.” This song was recently added to Hymns – For Home and Church.
“It really was one of the great moments of my life,” she said.
When Edwards wrote “Because” for a class at Brigham Young University, she never imagined she would see the Tabernacle Choir in Temple Square sing it.
Then again, the college freshman never imagined she’d be taking to the internet to share her testimony through music on a YouTube channel with millions of views, but that’s exactly what she’s doing now.
“I had no idea, but God knew,” Edwards said. “And God knew that someone like me could share the gospel in a new way, and He equipped me to do just that.”
Edwards’ professional musical journey is proof that God is working behind the scenes.
“God’s plans for us are always greater than our plans,” she said. “everytime.”
In hindsight about God’s plan
At age 45, Edwards returned to BYU to earn a degree in music media. Nearly 30 years have passed since my freshman year of college, and five children have also been born.
Earning a degree wasn’t in her plans, but when her sister told her about a friend who went back to school, Edwards heard a voice say, “You should too.”
“There have only been a few times in my life when I had such a direct revelation,” Edwards said of the prompting.
When Edwards enrolled at BYU at age 18, her plan was to perform with the Cougarettes, the school’s nationally acclaimed dance team.
However, when the school year began, she felt a persistent temptation to go to music school. She eventually quit the dance team, declared herself a major in piano performance, and instead of performing in front of thousands of people in packed stadiums, she spent hours practicing the piano alone in her basement classroom.
“There were many days when I thought, ‘What was I thinking?'” Edwards admitted. “Still, I knew I was where I was supposed to be. That’s all I knew.”
Later, when she married her husband John Edwards, she ended up dropping out of BYU without completing her degree.
Shauna Edwards said when she returned to the music school 30 years later, it was very competitive. She felt she might not have been able to get into the program in 2006 if she hadn’t already declared her music major when she was 18 years old.
“And 30, 40 years later, I understand why,” Edwards said of entering the music school as a freshman. “The Lord led me there.”
Technology as a tool
Since returning to BYU nearly 20 years ago, Edwards’ career has continued to take unexpected turns.
She currently composes approximately 70 songs, mostly gospel, and publishes music videos on her YouTube channel, which has 149,000 subscribers and millions of views.
Just as the Lord led him to attend music school and return to BYU, Edwards feels the Lord is helping him through his creative process.
“There’s a miracle in every song,” she said.
Edwards recalled her freshman year in college, when social media didn’t exist.
“If you try to explain it to me, I won’t. It would confuse my mind.”
Today, the Internet is one of Edward’s greatest tools for sharing his testimony.
She recently received an email from a man in Sri Lanka who is the principal of a Christian school for K-12 students. He tells her that he has been singing her songs at school for six years and that he plans to sing more in this year’s Christmas program.
Edwards says he’s just one of many people who have contacted her from all over the world to tell her how much her song means to them.
“It’s amazing what the Lord has done with technology and how it allows us to share the gospel in so many different ways,” she said.
all good things come from christ
“Because” was Edwards’ first song written during his first semester back at BYU in 2006.
Her songwriting professor gave her class an open-ended assignment. The idea was, “Please write a song about any theme.” Mr. Edwards wanted to write something about the Savior.
The poems came together quickly for Edwards.
“All I wanted was to connect his actions and his character in some way to all the good things we have,” she explained, citing lyrics from “Because” such as “I know the way because he walked me that way” and “He died for me so I’ll live again.”
Composing the chorus was even more difficult, Edwards said.
She wanted to summarize all that she felt the Lord had given her, but only one line of music could do that.
“You can’t tell everything,” she said, adding that the Savior gave the world “all that he had to give.”
Edwards ultimately came up with the closing line, “I breathe, I see, I hope, I love, I live.”
“I felt like these were very good representations of a million other things,” she said.
Edwards said she was honored to have “Because” included in “Hymns — For the Home and the Church.”
“I’m just grateful to be a part of this song, and I hope the congregation sings it for many years to come.”
‘because’
1. I know the path because he walked it.
God has calmed the storm, so I’m not afraid.
For God made the lame walk and the blind see.
And as I bless each of my children, I feel God’s love for me.
and I will forever admire
savior of the world,
and sing together
With all the saints on earth.
because he gave me everything
he had to give,
I breathe, I see, I hope, I love, I live.
2. God died for me, so I will live again.
I follow him because he is my friend.
I am filled with hope and peace because God fills the world with light.
And when He comes to earth again, I will kneel before His feet.
and I will forever admire
savior of the world,
and sing together
With all the saints on earth.
because he gave me everything
he had to give,
I breathe, I see, I hope, I love, I live.
Heaven and family support
Returning to school and publishing his songs on the Internet was scary for Edwards. She credits much of her growth to her husband.
“Since I started doing this music, he’s really helped me move forward with it,” she said. “In fact, I tell people that if it wasn’t for him, I never would have done that.”
John Edwards said it was great to see his wife doing missionary work “in a special way.”
“She feels much more confident when she releases songs now, and I think it’s because she knows that music brings the Holy Spirit to people and can be a source of encouragement and strength in times of need.”
Shauna Edwards also acknowledged that the Lord has guided and elevated her throughout her career.
“Time and time again, we see how willing the Lord is to help us when we are on His own business,” she said. “I always tell people, ‘You have a God-given talent, use it and God will help you.'”
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