Over the next few months, Richardson could only sing her parts in the studio or perform on stage. In between any of that, she was literally not allowed to speak.

“The whole situation has been one of the most challenging things of my whole life. It’s hard to not be able to talk at all and be away from home at the same time. We had tornadoes just down the street from my house, and I couldn’t call my family. I had to have [bassist] Wendy [Drennen] call my family for me. It was very difficult time.”

Still the band pulled through admirably despite all the obstacles, relying on the one thing they all agree has them to where they are:  the power of God.

“It actually worked to our advantage to have zero time to record, because that really forced us to rely completely on God,” explains Richardson. “We give God complete credit for this album being worth anything, because we had no time to put our two cents in. We’re very glad for that.”

“Like Dawn said, it really forced us to let go of our own desires to control the situation and wholly rely on God,” adds Cox. “Honestly, I don’t think anyone here believes this is any of our doing. We could not physically and mentally have done it without God.”

Fireflight has found the hope to persevere both in the recording studio and also in the strength of one another.

“I just think it’s awesome what Dawn has been going through with the recording of this record and with her voice,” says drummer Phee Shorb. “It’s just taken an extraordinary amount of guts for her to sing in this new range … and to know right before she does that, she has serious problems with her voice. But I think it’s been an awesome, almost apparent metaphor. It’s been allegoric. It’s about overcoming and finding you can win against adversity with the power of God.”

It’s with this new level of confidence in God’s plan that Fireflight is now emerging on a national level. NBC ordered the title track from Unbreakable for heavy promotion for its Bionic Woman series before the first single was even released to radio, lending Fireflight a visibility they’ve never known.

“For me it was something really cool just to give me confirmation that we were on the right track,” notes Wendy Drennen. “It was humbling because we knew we’re not worthy to be so exposed, but we felt so honored at the same time.”

For all the buzz and happenings, the band members still seem well-grounded.

“Honestly, I’ve never seen the [Bionic Woman] spot since we don’t have a TV in our house,” explains guitarist Glenn Drennen, husband to Wendy. “We also don’t have a rock radio station where we live. And with no TV, I’ve never personally seen or heard anything we’ve done on my own. It’s great to hear about it from other people though.”

Perhaps more than anything else, it’s the humility found within all five members of Fireflight that makes them unbreakable.

© 2008 CCM Magazine.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission.  

**This interview first published on April 2, 2008.