Benjamin Hastings Shares How His New Song "Anyway" Came About

Benjamin Hasting, best known for co-writing Hillsong UNITED's S "So Will I (100 Billion X)," has released his brand song "Anyway." Written by Josh Grimmett, David Leonard, Chris Davenport & Hastings, "Anyway" is a profession of trust in Jesus even when circumstances proved otherwise. 

You've been God for awhile
So the wisdom of time says You always know best
So whatever befalls, whatever You want
Your will is worth the test

When it's "yes" or "no" or "wait"
I'm gonna praise You anyway
I'm gonna praise You anyway
Highlight, heartbreak
I'm gonna praise You anyway

Hastings tells how the song was born. "A few months ago my wife, kids and I found ourselves stuck in Ireland due to visa complications. There's worse isles to be stuck on I know, and truely we loved it but whenever we got tired of two sides of potatoes for every meal (genuinely not an exaggeration) we would take sporadic trips to London. It kind of became our thing, I'd write, Jess would enjoy her favourite city and we'd meet for dinner with friends.

"But on one of these trips we happened to find ourselves in the middle of quite a substantial storm, at least by British Standards (not catastrophic by any stretch of the imagination but strong enough to rip part of the roof of the O2 off so, you know.. substantial). But the arrival of this storm led to something unforeseen.

"I'd been texting with a friend @joshgrimmit and we'd being trying to find time for a session but with our schedules it didn't look like it was gonna happen, however with the storm, trains were cancelled and our respective plans with it, so we decided to write. And as I walked to the studio (which in retrospect seems like it was a terrible idea but I didn't know about the O2 roof thing yet) I was taking in this wild force swirling around me and contemplating the admittedly very overused metaphor of storms in relation to the troubles of life and in the midst of garbage bins flying down the street and flagpoles rattling so hard I thought they might come off this thought dropped into my head.

"'Maybe you'll calm the storm, but maybe you sent it.' I've had plenty of hectic weather systems hit my emotions over the past few years, I've been Shaken, rattled and had more than just the roof torn off but I've also found as painful as it is, without it I'd probably be pretty vapid. I've always found a lot of perspective in the process of nature (and I've already written about it in other songs a lot but) plants and trees that lack testing never evolve to bear strength. It's those that grow where storms recur that boast the deepest roots.

"And that is one of the things we saw when the storms hit the UK. Trees everywhere, ripped from the ground because they were not built to withstand the forces against. I have to trust that whatever mess I find myself in, it's what's making me the person I was made to be. I have to trust when it comes to God that his 'will is worth the test' in highlight, in heartbreak, it's all the same and my response to him should be as such, the same.Anyway, the storm gave us a song that day and I hope you like it!" 

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