Bethel Music's Bethany Wohrle's Debut Solo Album a Reflection of God's Faithfulness in Tragedy

Bethany Wohrle | Photo Image courtesy Bethel Music
For years, Bethany Wohrle has helped lead worship with Bethel Music, encouraging believers around the world to encounter God through song.

Now, with the release of her debut solo album, Reason That I Sing, Wohrle shares a deeply personal collection of songs born from her own testimony of God's presence, faithfulness, and unwavering goodness.

Reflecting her journey of discovering God's steadfast character through every season of life, the album invites listeners to remember His faithfulness and anchor themselves in the promises that never fail.

I recently sat down with Bethany to reflect on the heart behind these songs, the stories that shaped them, and the hope she prays they will bring to others.

For every artist, there always seems to be a moment where you say to yourself, “I have to make this album. It is non-negotiable!” For this record, what was that moment for you?

I have been a worship leader my whole life. I grew up in the church. I love the local church. And I travel for a living. And I just got to a point where I was like, man, I wish I had started writing songs through my own history with the Lord. A lot of these new songs were birthed out some loss in my family and our pain and sadness but also experiencing the other side of walking through hell and back and experiencing the lowest lows and feeling the presence of God in those moments.

I want the Church to hear worship songs that have history behind them. And when you hear a song, whether it's Christian or secular, if they believe it and they are singing it you can feel that in your spirit. So, for me, this album has been a long time coming. I've been working on it for a few years now. Somebody asked me the other day, “I'm so excited this album is finally happening. I've been waiting for a Bethany Wohrle project to finally happen. Why now?” And I don't think that I have a full blown answer.

Honestly, I think I got to a place where I was like, all right, Lord, like, I'm going to let go and I'm not going to try and make this happen on my own. Whenever this album is supposed to happen it will happen. Here are the songs, Lord. Would you breathe on them? Would this be an album and a project that is to glorify You? It's not for my own pain. Yes, the Lord can do things that provide for my family or will open up doors in another area. I think it came for a reason as to why it's happening now. I feel like the Lord made it happen. I did not make this album happen. It's the Lord's timing that it's happening now.

You have been part of Bethel Music since 2018 as one of their most beloved worship leaders. Why the decision to break away from Bethel for a bit to make this solo record? Why was the timing right to make it now?

I'm 33 years old. In just being frank with you, I feel like it would've been for my own gain (if I had released something earlier). It would've been because I want to do this now and I deserve this. And I believe that what I have to give to the world is important. And I want to release an album right now. I think that the Lord honestly needed to soften my heart. It's not for anything other than to glorify the Lord. And I know that now. I believe that now. And if this album never goes anywhere, if it never goes past the release date, I'll be happy to know that I released this project without any hidden agenda or hidden motive behind it. It's solely because the Lord wanted this to happen.

You have been on a journey of sorts with your personal life, moving from profound pain to unwavering promise. In fact, I understand this record was born from that season in your life. What can you share about the incredible heartache and grief in your life?

Back in 2023, my family walked through a great loss. My little sister and brother-in-law lost their 18-month-old little girl. At that point in time, my husband and I lived in Texas. We were a worship pastor and music director out there. 2020 had happened, and things were kind of coming back up and travel was starting to pick back up again. My niece wasn't sick. She didn't have any heart conditions. There was literally nothing wrong with her. She just went down for a nap and didn't wake up. It wasn't something where someone has a severe illness or disease. Because she was a baby and you build this thing up in your mind of she is going to be here with us forever.

You have some sort of preconceived expectation that she will be here for a long time. With older people who are sick, you're grieving before they're actually gone. Whereas in this situation, it was really traumatic and it was really devastating for my family. And to watch my younger sister walk through such pain, and to be able to watch my sister at her daughter's funeral and then see her walk through that with the Lord was very emotional. But being able to see the goodness of God in the darkest moments of her whole life was so powerful. As for me, I still am walking through with my own children and trying not to live out of a place of fear.

Seeing what happened with my niece and being able to believe that God is good and not living in fear and not living with this anxious mindset all the time. And so, in walking through that stuff, a lot of these songs were born from that in my family's life.

A lot of these are just about heaven being so close. I had never experienced the Lord in this way until experiencing such pain and such trauma. He is so close when you are walking through that step. I don't understand how people who go through this don't know Jesus. It drives me crazy. If you only knew Jesus is so close to you at this moment. With my sister, I talked to her and said I don't ever want these songs to stay only here for our family, even though these songs were written for this. And she told me, “My daughter has brought me closer to the Father, and He has brought so many people to know more about Jesus because of what we've walked through.

And I've been able to share about her life and share about the 18 months that she was here on Earth. I have been able to share about the love of Jesus because of her. And my sister was like, “I want people to hear these songs. I want people to know her story, to know our story, and how we've walked through this stuff. We want people to experience the Lord even though they've walked through or are walking through pain and sadness. Because of that, my sister and I have made a video to help people walk through situations like this.

Changing gears, in anticipation of the album release, you have already released a couple of singles for the album, the first was “That’s How I Know”. What can you tell me about this song? Please walk me through the process of writing and recording it? What was the inspiration for it and how do you hope it will minister to people?

That song was written and birthed out of that season of my life. I brought that song into a room of writers, and we were kind of like, ‘Man, what should we write about today?’ We were just talking about what each of us were kind of walking through. And I was like, isn't it wild to think that we're all still here? The Lord is walking through this with all of us. It was like so and so just got diagnosed with cancer, I lost my niece, and this happened and this happened, but we're all still here. And we all still want to talk about the goodness and faithfulness of Jesus.

We haven't lost our love for the Lord, even though we've walked through some crazy things. And so, that's kind of where the song was really birthed from. We have history with the Lord. We've seen the Lord do amazing things, and we've also experienced the tenderness of the Lord when we are walking through pain and sadness. And so, I knew that I didn't want to write a sad story album. My heart and my goal for this project is that people would have hope again. Walking through what I've walked through and experiencing the faithfulness of the Lord, I have to remember the ways that He's brought me through. I think statistically remembrance and remembering is one of the most talked about things in Scripture.

It's really important for us as Christians to look back on what the Lord has done so that when we do get to the next thing where it's like the next hurdle, where we say, ‘Lord, I don't know if I can do this. Lord, I don't know if I can walk through this.’ In these times, we need to remember what He's done.’

Is there any one song on the album that you feel is the foundation or cornerstone for the entire album? The track that sets the tone for the entire record? If so, what is it and why do you feel it is the anchor of this collection of songs?

There's a song that I wrote with Mitch Wong and Lindsey Sweat (Trella) called “Seen Too Much” that I think fits that. I think it's my favorite song on the album. I love all of them for very different reasons, but there's something about this song. It was one of those moments for me when we finished writing it. We wrote the song in less than two hours and didn't make any changes. There was never a moment of let's go back and change this. It very much felt like the Holy Spirit was in the room the entire time. Honestly, we spent about an hour talking about what the Lord had done in our lives. For me, it was shortly after my niece had passed and I was just sharing what had just happened.

I've watched the Lord do wild things, walking through pain and walking through some of the darkest moments of my life, and seeing the faithfulness of the Lord even in that. That's where that song was birthed from. I've just seen way too much of God's goodness. That's one of the songs that I feel like I'll be singing for the rest of my life as a testimony and as a reminder that God is good. I've seen his faithfulness and I know that I'll continue to see it again.

After people have had a chance to listen to your debut solo album, what would you like your listeners to take away from the experience? What is your greatest hope for the album?

My greatest hope is that people will feel hope again. Like I mentioned earlier, when I wrote this album, my biggest thing was that I don't want this to be a woe is me record. I've walked through all of these things. I've walked through tragedy. I want people to hear this project and go, ‘Man, I've walked through stuff like that too. With this album, I'm really hoping and believing that when people listen to it, they feel faith rise up again.

These songs have lit a fire inside of me. I can't wait to see the enemy cower when I'm leading the songs at church. I can't wait to see the chains that fall off of people when they're singing these songs or listening to these songs. I want people to know that God is good and that He is faithful, even if you're in the midst of pain. In the midst of tragedy, the Lord is good. Even if you have to fake it till you make it and repeat it. Put a post-it note on your bathroom mirror and say every morning God is good. You are going to experience tragedies and you're going to experience what the Bible says. But take heart, I have overcome the world. And so, I want people to remember His goodness and have hope again.

WATCH A MUSIC VIDEO FOR SEEN TOO MUCH: