E/B            B
At first I didn't want it
    E/B             B
Her daddy, well, we didn't fit
    E/B
But I couldn't swing it
  B                    F#sus4 F#
I was scared to do it alone


B
Seventeen and pregnant
                   D#m
Not what I had in mind
    G#m
Her daddy was a farmer
     E              F#
But not the wealthy kind


  E/B
I wanted to be a dancer
            D#m
But not the kind I did for pay
G#m      F#      C#
Who was this new person
         B/G#          F#
That was getting in my way?


C#m
I could've walked out
E/B
Left her for dead
B                E/G#
Cut her out with my own hands
E/B
But something in me
B                            F#sus4 F#
Was kicking and screaming to live


         E/B
When the world's at stake
          B
There are lives to save
         E/B
And even though I shake
            D#m   B/G#
My hands at God I pray
        E/B
Let her have a better life
       D#m
Than I can provide
           C#sus4
Lord have mercy on my soul
     D#m                 E/B B F#
As I try to do her right


     B
It took a long, long time
         D#m
To understand God's plan for me
    G#m
He threw me down the river
         E            F#
Beat my flush in Kankakee


        G#m
By the time my water broke
      D#m
I was deep in my own debt
    G#m     F#      C#
But when I saw her face
         E         F#sus4 F#
It was easy to forget


C#m
I knew I had to
E/B
Get her away
B                     G#m
Take her to where my debt was paid
E
A new beginning
     B                 F#sus4
A place I'd never been
And never seen

         E/B
When the world's at stake
            B
All your dreams they change
          E/B
And every step you take
        D#m      B/G#
Is for another's sake
         E/B
And even if she grows to hate me
        D#m
I won't change my course of heart
          C#7
Lord have mercy on my soul
       B
If we ever grow apart


E
You think that I resent her very being?
                                       B         E
That maybe I regret her ever needing a mother

Is it wrong that I enjoy to right her?
                                   B
I may be rash and overprotecting, not bitter
      G#m   F#       C#
I suppose I could be softer…


C#m
I can do better
E
Hold you closer
        B
I'm learning that
          G#m
As I grow older
E                 F#      G#
I'm the one to forgive


           F#
When the world's at stake
               C#
You give your life away
         F#
And it feels so great
             C#/E#   A#m7
To watch the one you saved
         F#         F#6 F#
Be the most adoring person
     C#/E#
Your mom has ever known
            D#m7
Lord have mercy on my soul
           C#7                   F#
And let my dreams be all her own
        F#      C# G#            C#
When my world's at stake...