How a Former Country Singer Found God Amid Grief

Published: July 26, 2024

How a Former Country Singer Found God Amid Grief

By Movieguide® Contributor

Former country singer turned pastor Granger Smith joined Kirk Cameron on TBN to discuss the death of his son, River, and how he found God amid the grief.

Movieguide® previously reported on the death of Smith’s son:

River Smith drowned in the family’s pool in July 2019.

“I was there,” Smith recalled. “I was 15 feet away from this. I was doing gymnastics with my daughter, and River was playing water gunfight with our son, Lincoln. And somehow he got into our gated locked pool. Within seconds, right behind me while I was doing gymnastics with our daughter, he was in the pool and had inhaled water. Became unconscious. When I pulled him out, I didn’t know CPR, besides what I had seen in the movies, and we lived out in the country.”

He continued “So, it took paramedics 10 minutes to get there. That’s too long to go without oxygen to his little brain, and it ended up being irreversible.”

River died the next day.

“I believe that the amount of grief that you have will always equal the love that you had for that person,” Smith explained when asked if he ever asks God why his son died. “So, if you love a lot, then you’re going to grieve a lot. I struggle a little bit with comparing grief because maybe someone will never go through a loss of a child, but we will all go through it at some point, and early on, by the way, I was a cultural Christian.”

“I wasn’t saved,” he continued. “I thought I was during this time when we lost River, but during that time, I did have a feeling early on that perhaps it’s not the right prayer to only pray for what we wanted — healing and revive this child and give us peace right now. Instead maybe I should be praying for God’s will — God’s purpose — so that I could move forward and take the next steps according to what He needs for me, not what I want. That thought alone will start to eliminate the question of ‘Why, God?'”

After River’s death, Smith began his healing journey. Part of that included writing his book, Like a River: Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward after Loss and Heartache.

“You know—losing him just about killed me,” Smith wrote on Instagram when he debuted his book. “On that grief journey, I left NO stone unturned to heal myself, but nothing helped until…everything changed.”

“These last four years have been the wildest ride of my life, and yet I’ve mostly kept it to myself until now. I want you to know the whole story (at times as unbelievable as it is). I want the information that I learned to be available to anyone that is hurting. I’ve written this intimate story in the best form of media that I know how: a book. It’s called ‘Like a River.’ Will you read it? Will you send this to a friend that needs it? I really hope you do,” he concluded.