Platinum-selling country singer Granger Smith shocked his fans last April when he announced his decision to leave behind his more than two-decades-long career in music to devote his life to the church.
Now, Mr. Smith is opening up about how his faith and pursuit of God’s calling have helped him to heal and find purpose again following the devastating loss of his 3-year-old son, River, who tragically passed away from a drowning accident in June 2019.
Mr. Smith—who shares daughter London and sons Lincoln and Maverick with his wife, Amber—recalled the life-altering accident during a conversation with The Epoch Times.
“I was there with him when it happened,” he candidly shared. “I was in the backyard playing with all the kids.”
After his son’s tragic accident, Mr. Smith became consumed by grief as well as internalized guilt.
“It turned my world upside down; it sent me into a journey of learning how to recover,” he continued. “There were times when I thought I was getting better, but it ultimately led me to a path where I didn’t want to live anymore. I found no meaning in living.”
Upon that realization, Mr. Smith said he was “finally able to arrive at a place of surrender.”
“If I think I’m in control of a world that I absolutely don’t have any control over, that would be the catalyst to a meaningless life—a purposeless life.
Putting Trust in God
Although Mr. Smith was raised in a Christian home, he noted that he “certainly didn’t live a lifestyle as evidence of it.”“I think a lot of people do all over the world,” he offered. “They might say they’re religious in any form or fashion, but really, when you dig into it, it’s really just a heritage that we learn through our culture or our parents.”
For Mr. Smith, fully surrendering to God’s authority was ultimately what inspired him to leave his illustrious career as a country music star to pursue a life in ministry.
“Being a singer and becoming a product on stage that I needed to sell, that required people to worship me, seek attention, and gain praise from people, was the business I was in,” he explained.
“I realized that that didn’t reconcile with anything on the journey I was on, and I realized instead that that also was something I needed to surrender,” Mr. Smith declared.
“I realized I couldn’t live in a world where I was surrendering to God and trusting his plan and also requiring people to worship me as a measure of my own success.”
Although the award-winning singer-songwriter planned to announce his retirement and subsequently quit his career in music outright, his wife encouraged him to embark on a farewell tour.
“‘You need to properly say goodbye to the people who have invested so many years of their life following you around and listening to your music and going to concerts,’” he recalled her telling him at the time.
“It was a very special time for me,” he recollected of his summer tour, which was called the “Like a River” tour.
‘Up Toward the Light’
After 24 years in the country music industry, Mr. Smith is now a seminary student and serves his local church. He also gives keynotes and sermons at churches, conferences, and other events across the country.“I love music and yet what I’m doing now, I get so much more joy out of it—that should say something,” he said, noting that he’s in a “season of learning.”
Mr. Smith channeled his pain, grief, and sorrow into his novel, “Like a River,” released in August 2023. The faith-based book explores his family’s heart-wrenching tragedy and is also laden with riveting prose aimed at guiding readers through their trials and tribulations.
The New York Times best-selling author is set to release his new book, “Up Toward the Light,” on April 2. The children’s book is centered on a simple discussion between a young boy and a tree, inspired by a similar conversation Mr. Smith had at the suggestion of his therapist.
“When I was in therapy and really struggling, I remember we were at this therapy retreat—my wife and I—in Tennessee, and the therapist asked me, he said: ‘Who do you see yourself as in relation to your family? What do you want to be for your family?’” he recalled.
“I said I want to be a rock—a rock that they can lean on. And he said, ‘Well, I’m just curious, who does the rock lean on when it needs help?’ He said, ‘That’s why I would encourage you to think of yourself more as a tree that can bend and sway and still can be big and sturdy.’”
Mr. Smith’s therapist then asked him to go outside, find a tree, and speak to it, jotting down the conversation on a piece of paper. So on a misty November day, he trudged into the woods and settled down next to a tree beside a small stream.
“I told the tree after this long conversation that I really just came here because I lost my son, River,” he shared. “And the tree relates to that and says, ‘Well, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for [a] river as well,’ referring to the running stream.
“The tree ends up telling me—through this conversation and through my own thoughts—that if we focus on the life-giving river, which is amazing, but if we focus down on the river, then we are missing where true growth comes from,” Mr. Smith noted.
“And that is up toward the light,” he said.
