Did not catch her name
Did not catch her tears
It hit me like a train
When her story hit my ears
Mother of eight sons
Father off to war
Got no home address
Just bricks on a dirt floor
Jesus is all I need

Tiny plot of land
Corn stored up in piles
Years it doesn't rain
They just stay hungry for a while
No fatted calf to kill
She made a feast of cuy and corn
She said, 'Who else knew my name
Before the day that I was born?
Jesus is all I need
Jesus is all I need.'

She bragged about her boys
How they're growin' into men
How they learned to praise the Lord
Old Style Ecuadorian
To buy the new guitar
They had to sell the swine
Said, 'My boys go to school on a foreign angel's dime.
This world calls me poor
I bore my babies on this floor
He always provides
Sure as the sun will rise.
So I'll sing Him songs of praise
'Cause I know He'll keep me in His gaze.'

Rain poured from the sky
We raced back to the van
There were tears in the eyes
Of this poor, forgetful man
Mother of eight sons
She knows the peace of God
Lord, help me learn to lean
On thy staff and thy rod
Jesus is all I need
Jesus is all I need

Words and music by Randall Goodgame

Behind the Song:
'For this one, the song tells the story. The mother of Los Armanos (the musician brothers) told us her story while we were all standing up in her little dirt-floor, cinderblock house. She began and ended her speech by saying that above all else, she was most thankful for knowing God. Not His blessings, or what God had done for her family, but God himself. In His presence, and in the assurance of His love, she found peace. That affected all of us... Her sons play Ecuadorian folk music, so it seemed appropriate to write a simple folk song about her.' - Andrew Osenga (Caedmon's Call)