Natalie Grant Found Identity in God After Thyroid Cancer Diagnosis
By Movieguide® Contributor
In a recent interview with Movieguide®, Christian singer and artist Natalie Grant shared her journey in the music industry and how a cancer diagnosis helped her find her identity in Christ.
“I’ve always loved music,” she shared in the interview. “I grew up in a musical family. I’m the youngest of five kids, and so none of my siblings are, you know, professional musicians. But all of them served in their local church, right? And even my brother, who’s a medical doctor now, but he was my musical hero, and he played the piano and sang and he was five and a half years older than me, and so he taught me so, so much about music. So, I grew up singing in the church I grew up loving music.”
Grant’s musical career almost ended after a thyroid cancer diagnosis several years ago.
“I remember when they first said, ‘Hey you have cancer.’ [It’s] scary enough but I did know that papillary thyroid cancer is…if you’re going to get cancer you might want to choose papillary thyroid,” the singer said.
The Mayo Clinic states that papillary thyroid cancer “is the most common type of thyroid cancer” and “most often affects people ages 30 to 50.” It adds, “Most papillary thyroid cancers are small and respond well to treatment, even if the cancer cells spread to the lymph nodes in the neck.”
While the cancer is very treatable, Grant revealed that the tumor’s location was problematic.
“They’re going to get it out, you’re going to be okay, you don’t have to have chemo…I feel so blessed at the type of cancer I have,” she shared. “That sounds funny but you know it could have been so much worse.”
“[The problem] was where the tumor was. They were like, ‘We’re going to get the cancer out, but the tumor is laying on your vocal nerve, and so when we cut it out, it’s probably going to paralyze your vocal cord,’” the doctors told Grant.
For the musician, the fact that she might not have been able to sing again brought on an identity crisis.
“If I’m honest, I’ve spent so many years of my life saying, ‘Singing is not who I am. It’s just what I do. It’s not my identity. It’s just what I get to do.’ Until they say you may never sing again, and I was like ‘I’m lying it’s totally who I am!’ Like I had a complete I had a complete identity crisis,” Grant said.
Through processing her emotions and leaning into God, she truly believed that her identity doesn’t come from what she does but from whose she is.
“I really am daughter of the King. I am wife of Bernie. I am mother of Gracie, Bella and Sadie, and if all of the singing goes away, I am still more blessed than I can even fathom,” Grant explained.
Regardless of the circumstances, she knows that God is good.
“Even if I don’t get the outcome I want, my outcome does not determine his goodness that he is still good and faithful to me and kind to me,” Grant concluded.
Grant is now a five-time Music Association female vocalist of the year and a nine-time Grammy nominee, according to Billboard. Her most recent album, “Seasons,” was released October 6.
Check out Movieguide®’s full exclusive interview with Grant below:
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