“Be merciful to me, O God, because of your unfailing love. ~ Psalm
51:1
Cory developed his profound love
for music and songwriting in the mountains of North Carolina. An innocent boy with goofy, spiky hair, he
was carefree and confident with boundless energy.
In 1999 at the age of fourteen, he began leading worship at
his local church. Six years later, Cory
launched into full-time worship ministry at the International House of Prayer
in KC where he fell in love with an 18-year-woman named Anna.
But on the journey from boyhood to manhood there were many potholes
in the road.
Even as a full-time worship minister, he secretly struggled
with an addiction to pornography and other sexual immoralities. Unable to confess his failings, Cory found
himself in a perpetual cycle of guilt and self-loathing.
He and Anna married in 2006, but the cycle didn’t stop. On top of hurting God’s heart with his sins, Cory
now carried the additional burden of breaking Anna’s heart as well.
They welcomed a son, Gabriel, in 2008. “And when I held him for the first time,
everything changed. I had to become a
father to learn how to be a son (of God),” he shared.
It wasn’t until he prayerfully pored
over David’s life from the Old Testament that Cory envisioned a path toward forgiveness,
atonement and reconciliation with God. David,
a preacher, also struggled with lust when he penned the words of Psalm 51. And instead of beating himself up, he threw
himself wholly on the mercy of God, knowing that God wasn’t after sacrifice,
but a contrite heart.
“If David could still lead worship as a man after God’s
heart, surely I could as well,” Cory knew.
Inspired by David’s testimony, Cory broke free from his addiction and
other sexual transgressions. He also promised
to share his story so that others could benefit from his experience.
With the help of a fellow songwriter (Caleb Culver – both
worship leaders at Kalamazoo’s Radiant Church), Cory Asbury co-wrote the hit
single “Reckless Love” in 2017, inspired by his own spiritual odyssey. “I thought of a word to describe the way God
protects and watches over us. Its
intense; it’s with “reckless” abandon. He’d
do anything to stop whatever force is fighting against us.”
The song was nominated for a Grammy in 2019 after winning
two GMA Dove Awards the previous year. His
album of the same name soared quickly to the top of the charts, becoming
Worship Album of the Year in 2018, and one of the top 10 of the decade.
Then he did something unheard of - perhaps a bit ‘reckless’
by some accounts. After a year of extraordinary
success, he announced to his 230,000 Instagram followers that he’d be taking
2019 off from music and social media; choosing, instead, to rekindling the
family time taken from him by a year of success.
“Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending,
reckless love of God. I couldn’t earn
it, I don’t deserve it, still You give Yourself away. Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless
love of God. ~ Cory Asbury
(2017)
