By Lauren Schwab Eyre

I remember being at the 2019 CMA Fest in Nashville, Tennessee when I learned that my favorite artist, Granger Smith, wouldn’t be there due to a tragedy. In his newly released book, Like A River, Granger Smith tells the story of losing his three-year-old son, River, to a drowning accident. What was truly a tragic event for Granger and his family, became a story of rebirth for his faith and a story of new life with the miracle of his son, Maverick.

I won’t spoil this story for you, but I will say that it is truly impactful. Granger is very descriptive in his story-telling and the audio book version of him reading it to you makes you feel as if you were right next to him as he bears all. Each chapter builds from the next and will leave you thinking about the greater meaning of life’s events.

In this video from his family’s YouTube channel, The Smiths, Granger tells about each chapter of the book (starting at 6:00).

Granger also reflects on this intimate story being out in the world and what it means to him for people to receive this message in this video. “I’ve never believed in my music, any album, any song, any music video, any piece of media, Moonrise the movie, whatever I’ve ever put out – I’ve never believed in any of it enough to pull out a camera and go, ‘Hey, will you do this? Will you please get two copies? Will you get three copies?’ I’ve never said that because I never believed that it mattered enough for me to pour my heart out at all to someone… Please help me spread a message, I believe it with all my heart and soul matters, and could matter to someone.”

Granger goes on to share how he has prayed since starting to write the book two years ago, that God would prepare the hearts of those who don’t even know they need this yet, for God to ready them through the profound message in this book. He’s also expectant for this message to multiply to those who need it.

“From such a day of pain and heartache to think that could be…something so much bigger and beautiful than I could ever imagine.”

– Granger Smith

Granger then reflects back to June 4, 2019, when he found River in the pool, “It felt like that was the end for me, it was the end for Riv… It felt like my world was wrecked. Everything I built with my hands was wrecked, was gone, it was crumbling. But to think there is a phoenix rising from the ashes… from such a day of pain and heartache to think that could be where we are into this book and moving forward, something so much more profound, so much bigger and beautiful than I could ever imagine.”

“There is a home, and He is alive, and His Name is Jesus.”

– Granger Smith

To learn Granger’s remarkable story from heartache to hope in Christ that led to a greater purpose revealed in this book, be sure to get Like A River today and share it with someone to spread its message.