In an intimate interview with BreatheCast, Kathryn Scott opens up about her latest EP Sing on the Battlefield, life as a worshiper, a mom, a pastor in Ireland, and how the death of someone close to her helped her come to grips with what she really believed about God.

Scott is known for penning well-known worship anthems like "Hungry" and "At the Foot of the Cross" and has earned respect from fellow artists and worshipers alike, but she made it clear music is not her career, her heart is solely after God and helping to bring people closer to Him.

As the senior pastors for over 15 years at Causeway Coast Vineyard Church in Ireland, with her husband, Scott said having her proprieties in order is a big thing.

"Mostly I write in Ireland," Scott said admitting that the opportunity to use the Internet and Skype serves to be very helpful when creating music, "I can't be away for too long."

Adding, "I say no to an awful lot of stuff. Even though I would love to do things. You just have to have a really firm idea in your mind of what you're priorities are and then you make decisions based on that."

Scott admitted, "I love leading worship and getting to sing in different churches and getting to lead worship there, but my first priority is to my family... and then of course to the church at home as well."

Scott has two daughters, 13 and 10 years old. She noted that she and her family try to travel as a family as much as they can.

When asked what was the inspiration behind her EP Sing on the Battlefield and the songs on it she explained, "Really it's coming from being a pastor."

"As you walk life out with people especially people who are committed to just risking everything for the kingdom all the time," she continued.

The title track "Sing on the Battlefield" is a very heartfelt number, but Scott maintained, "There was no personal sorrow behind it, just a real acknowledgment of the battle that we're in."

"Not just personally," she said, "but just leading a community who are committed to that kind of risk as well you have to have a place where you wrestle with disappointment too, and that's really where the song was born... Of course we've journeyed sorrow in our lives, everybody has."

Scott then went on to discuss a painful ordeal her family went through that inspired the strength behind the songs on the EP.

"About four years ago my sister and her husband lost their first baby, she was really beautiful, she lived for 16 days," Scott shared.

The psalmist admitted that at the end of her niece's life, although she always believed in the goodness of God, they prayed for a miracle, "this time it didn't happen," and that forced her to dig deeper with God.

"It was one of those moments where I really had to go back to the Lord and say 'Lord what do I believe about your sovereignty? What do I believe about your goodness? I don't believe that a good father just whisks a child away from their mommy and daddy because it was the right time or that kinda thing,'" she said.

"It just got me back to scripture again," she continued, "'what do I actually believe about this?' And when I looked at scripture all the way through from creation, just what was in the heart of God and then again when Jesus came and He walked the Earth. Everything he did was about bringing things back into God's original plan, and then when you look at the end of time and the beginning of eternity God sets everything right."

"So, they'll never be death anymore, there's no more tears, there's no more agony in the world and so my encouragement to anyone in the middle of a battle field is this...get to grips with the goodness of God, get that solidly in your sight and again recognize that he's not behind the battle, it's not God's mastermind plan to somehow do that," she encouraged, "God is the rescuer in the middle of the struggles that life throws at us, because we have a really real enemy, and that just changed everything for me."

Scott, although noticeably in a great place, went on to say, "and it meant then when I was standing in what ever battlefield it was and I caught a glimpse of Jesus, He would just take my breathe away, because of His goodness, because I could trust that His heart was for me and that even though He chose to position himself in the middle of it with me, He wasn't behind it."

A BreatheCast favorite on the EP is the song "Always good," a number Scott composed with her brother. The singer said the song "has been ruminating in my heart for such a long time." She said especially since losing her niece.

"Just that whole understanding of God's goodness and it's really central, it's become like a foundation for me that's helped me understand faith so much more beyond circumstances," Scott revealed, "I just love singing about it, I love trying to put it into the context not of just simply, 'God's good', but here's why He's good."

The Ireland native said she tries to "help hearts get around His goodness because that becomes like oxygen to us when sometimes we can feel like we're drowning."

Although Scott's songs are so powerful she confessed, "I have to really fight for every song. I'm not a prolific song writer I'm really picky about when I think a song is finished and if it's saying what I think we need to sing as a church or something that the Lord is saying over us."

The busy mother said the great thing about the balance of family life and church life and leading worship and writing songs is that she does not find her identity in being a successful singer/song writer. "This is not my career, this is something that I get to step into when the Lord opens the door for me and then I carry on with just normal life so that makes it never routine."

Scott has a unique ministry in that she pastors in Ireland, but her music reaches all over the world, especially the United States. Although she does not travel often, she said everywhere she goes she sees one common thing. "Everywhere I go I encounter the same hunger for the presence of Jesus, the same longing to see Him show up and change things," she said.

She shared, "What I'm really enjoying everywhere I go is that there is an increasing longing to take the steps outside of the church, to go and reach people whether they're at the mall or they're doing they're groceries, wherever it is and I think that's right across the board."

When asked what were her thoughts on modern day worship where dance music is now being used in church as a way to appeal to a younger crowd, Scott answered, "I think music is just music, it's all about the presence of Jesus."

"There's some music that's definitely not going to connect with me or you, but it's gonna connect with that little guy who works in that coffee shop or that group of college kids or that kind of thing," she explained.

Scott broke her response down by comparing her experience with the diversity of worship with her experience in a coffee shop. "I love going to coffee shops, but I don't actually drink coffee, I drink tea. But I go in there because I love the environment and I go in there and I sit and I drink my cup of tea, "she said.

"And then I've got a latte drinker beside me and someone who loves hot chocolate, and someone who likes chai tea, and all these different things." she continued, "If you think of that, all in terms of worship, it's all about Him. It's all directed to Jesus, it's all about our hearts connecting, music just gives us a vehicle that we fit in, that we can set our hearts inside and go, this is the vehicle that can take me right to where Jesus is."

As we wrapped up the interview, Scott was noticeably grateful to serve and be used by God. "I just want people to have an encounter with Jesus when they listen to this EP."

She said it doesn't matter how well it's received in terms of critical acclaim, "I just want hearts to feel like 'oh I can sing this song to Jesus' and it will bring them closer to Him."

Scott will tour the U.S. in support of the album, with dates on the East Coast this Fall and dates on the West Coast in February. She ended the interview by saying, "I'm going to love my husband, be hopefully a great mom to my kids, I'm gonna make dinners,? walk dogs, hover the car, be a normal person and I love it all."

For more information, visit www.kathrynscott.org and get her amazing EP released on The Fuel Music on iTunes here.