In an exclusive interview with Charisma Magazine Online, Granger Smith shared his journey to redemption after the tragic loss of his son.
Smith released his book, “Like a River” which details his life’s journey after losing his son, River. His son’s death was also a pivotal moment for a redirection in his career.
“It was the first time that I got up to tour after losing River, [and it] was an attempt to have a change of scenery,” Smith said. “The first time ever in decades I thought ‘This is meaningless.’ You know, I felt like Solomon at some level saying that, this is all in Ecclesiastes, this is all dust, this meaningless.”
Smith said that he was able to perform and engage with audiences, but that it was the first time his experience was different than it had been in the past.
“That was the first time that the veil was torn as you can say, that there was a crack,” Smith said. “God sovereignly reduced my passion in touring and in music and proportionately raised it…toward Him. As that began to happen as I toured more and more I began to feel not a discomfort or not a dissatisfaction in touring; I just felt pulled in another area of my life.”
Smith felt that he kept hitting the same wall again and again: picking up his cross was more important than gaining glory from the applause of his fans.
“To be a believer, to follow Christ, to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow Him, did not align with self-exaltation on a stage,” Smith said. “I’m speaking for me; I could not reconcile needing the glory for myself on a stage no matter how I looked at it. That feeling eventually overcame and overran me to a point where I thought, ‘I have to surrender this, I have to turn it in.”
Smith shared how he gave up his record deal in 2021 as the first step in his process toward sanctification in Christ. The next major step for Smith will be the wrap-up of his touring days.
“Really what we call this as believers we call this sanctification. It’s a slow process, sometimes painful, sometimes uncomfortable process of shedding the world and conforming more and more like Christ,” Smith said. “This is a lifelong journey for all believers.”
Smith’s journey at this point in his life has been heavily about surrendering the things of this world to God, and trusting that He has a bigger and better plan for him.
“Our faith is active, it is not a noun, it is a verb, and it’s an active form of surrender,” Smith said. “It’s surrendering everything back to God.”
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Abby Trivett is a marketing copywriter and coordinator for Charisma Media.
Phil Hotsenpiller 
Stephen Strang 
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