Former Country Star Found God’s ‘True Peace’ at Rock Bottom
By Movieguide® Contributor
In a recent sermon, former country singer Granger Smith is sharing how he rediscovered his faith.
“I lost my peace — at least, the peace that the world gave me — the day I found my 3-year-old son River dead, floating facedown in our pool,” Smith began.
River passed away in 2019, and Smith recalled getting lost in his grief as he attempted to return to his music career.
“I tried to create peace for myself by helping myself with self-help,” he explained, listing books and counseling, all designed to help him handle his grief. However, nothing worked.
“It got so bad that one night after a concert…I just didn’t want to live anymore, and I was going to do something about it,” Smith explained. He reached rock bottom and felt “a dark, nefarious and evil presence” with him.
“I was finally ready for the Maker’s hand to shape me like a blacksmith shapes hot metal into something usable,” he said. “I did the only thing I had left to do in that moment. I surrendered. I called out the name above all names. I said, ‘Jesus, God, please Jesus, save me,’ and then the enemy’s voice stopped.”
Smith continued, “It was a wild night, and I was on a new mission after that — who is Jesus?”
He began exploring his faith in a deeper way, including reading his Bible. Smith said everything changed after reading John 14:23:
Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
“Knowing I was loved…it all made sense,” Smith said. “I wanted to keep His word and I wanted to know it.”
He continued, “The funny thing is, the more I craved it, the more I hungered for it, the Lord was rearranging my desires, and this weak, watered-down, self-manifesting peace that I had slipped away and the true peace entered.”
Today, Smith has given up his music career to pursue a life in ministry.
“I don’t want the Granger Smith name to be famous, instead I want to proclaim the name of Christ!” he said in an interview with The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. “From now on when you hear the name Granger Smith, my goal is NOT for you to say: He was a great singer, or a great speaker, or author, or not even what a great loss he suffered. Instead, when you hear my name, I want you to think, ‘Granger Smith? Oh, I’ve heard of him. What a great Savior we have in Jesus!’”
Movieguide® previously reported on Smith’s pursuit of ministry:
Country star Granger Smith recently spoke more about his decision to leave country music and pursue ministry in his local church.
“It sounds like a not-very-exciting news story — the story of a guy who had what I always dreamed of having, and turning it back over,” the singer laughed. “I’m turning it back in for a life at the local church. But I believe that that is what I am called to do.”
Smith also talked about the role faith had in his life following the tragic death of his son, River, who passed away in 2019 in a tragic accidental drowning.
“I cannot take credit myself for the radical transformation that the Lord did in my life through this tragedy,” he shared. “Sometimes, when that soil is cultivated, and we have to dig deep, and we can’t find it within ourselves, the Lord comes in and shows Himself in a very profound way.”
Smith recently announced his plans to end his music career after his current tour and focus on ministry.
“Now that this gift was given to me, at the darkest tragedy of our life, now I have a purpose to go out and share this message of what happened to me with other people who are probably going through the same thing,” he said.
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