-Words and Music by Lanny Wolfe, Arranged by Ashley Welborn & Cliff Duren

This song takes me back to wooden pews, teal green carpet and magic-pen activity books. My mother was the quintessential pastor’s wife. She sang and played piano, directed VBS, and even sat on the “second row piano side” like Shanda Pierce, the Christian comedian’s Mom. She was sassy with the deacons and great with kids. Even today, my Mom remains a woman of great faith, and one of my heroes. She is a prayer warrior and a Godly example for me. This song was originally written by a guy named Lanny Wolfe, but as far as I am concerned, it was my Mom’s song. She has a great voice and plays piano better than I ever hope to. She always sang this song with so much feeling, and it poured out of her so. She would even cry nine times out of ten when she sang it.

The message of the song is my parents anthem, “Whatever it takes for my will to break; that’s what I’ll be willing to do.” They have done so much for the kingdom of God, often at great cost to their comfort and sometimes their very livelihood. I’ve watched my Dad and Mom grieve and cry for the souls of lost people. They have sacrificed and experienced near impoverished conditions because they believed that God wanted them where they were.

I met Jesus at a very young age because He was so obvious in the lives of my Dad and Mom. To this day, I don’t feel stressed out at the thought of personal or financial uncertainty because I had the privilege of watching God so amply provide for our needs and my parents respond by trusting in Him to do so. So this song is now my anthem. As I grow in Christ, I learn to give Him everything before He asks it—after all, it was never really mine. I learn over and over again that the life He has planned for me is spectacular. It is a hard prayer to pray, but I do pray it: “Father, Whatever it takes for my will to break, that’s what I’ll be willing to do.”

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