Like a River
Finding the Faith and Strength to Move Forward after Loss and Heartache
-
- $14.99
-
- $14.99
Publisher Description
New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, Publishers Weekly, ECPA Bestseller
'Country music artist Smith debuts with a sensitive and moving recollection of his path through grief. . .In stark, intimate prose, the author candidly renders the realities of suffering while articulating a moving message of renewal. Those seeking a faith-based path through grief will find this instructive and affecting.' -- Publishers Weekly
Like a River, a triumphant story of new life birthed out of tragedy, will teach readers how to face their failures, confront their pain, and connect with God—the true source of life.
On June 4th, 2019, country music singer Granger Smith was enjoying a final evening with his kids before heading to Nashville for the CMT Music Awards and his next tour. While helping his daughter London with her gymnastics, his youngest son fell into their pool. Granger did everything he could to get to him, but he was too late. River drowned, and Granger's world shattered.
The days, weeks, and months that followed River's death sent Granger on a dark and painful journey. Every time he closed his eyes, he replayed the horrific event in his mind, and every time he opened his computer, he was bombarded by the critique and criticism of people who blamed him for the accident.
Despite his best effort to get back on stage with a smile and song, it was all a façade. On the inside he was dying. Fortunately, that's not how his story ended. And now he is compelled to help people all around the world find strength, peace, and hope on the other side of tragedy.
Like a River, life is full of twists and turns.Like a River, people pollute our world with their critique and criticism.Like a River, tragic events keep us dammed up.But like a river, we can find the courage to keep moving downstream.
Rivers don't run on their own strength; they flow from their source. When we try to keep going on our own, we won't make it, but when we connect to the greater source, we will find the strength and the faith to keep living after loss. This triumphant story of new life birthed out of death will inspire every reader to live Like a River.
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
Losing a child is a horrific tragedy, but as Granger Smith explores, even life’s worst moments can have a purpose. When the country singer’s three-year-old son, River, fell into the family’s pool and drowned, it started a journey through pain worse than Smith ever imagined. Yet the devout Christian explains that once he stopped fighting against the current of God’s will, he made his way out of the darkness and found a renewed sense of purpose. Smith is agonizingly honest as he details his descent to rock bottom. But through it all, he makes us feel the passion for helping others that his grief awoke in him. In fact, he uses this book to mark his transition from country star to full-time preacher. Like a River is about accepting that we can’t control what happens in life—but we can learn from it.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Country music artist Smith debuts with a sensitive and moving recollection of his path through grief recovery after his three-year-old son, River, accidentally drowned in 2019. Beginning with a paralyzing account of finding River facedown in a pool, Smith details the "slideshow" of grief that repeated on loop in his brain in the days afterward: River "purple and limp like a rag doll," and, later, "in the hospital with breathing tubes in his nose"; Smith's other son, then–five-year old Lincoln, placing his fingers on River's casket at the funeral. Smith went through the motions at concerts and sought relief in self-help books and his weed pen, until a moment months later when, listening to devotionals in his car, he was "blown away" by a sudden awareness of God's unconditional love: "I knew of God before, but now I understood something far greater... he knew me." Smith explains how he abandoned a false sense of control and placed his trust in Jesus, and found a measure of purpose within the pain by using trauma as fuel to spread God's message. He also offers readers strategies to navigate their own grief, such as surrounding themselves with like-minded believers. In stark, intimate prose, the author candidly renders the realities of suffering while articulating a moving message of renewal. Those seeking a faith-based path through grief will find this instructive and affecting.
Customer Reviews
Loved
Very inspiring. Loved the honesty and the courage.
May God continue to give you grace in your journey.
Amazing Book
This book really makes me think about where I am in life and what I value. I have really took a hard look and things that have happened in my life and what they really meant. I have found new focus in my life. A must read for everybody I know
The most Amazing book
I can not say enough good things about this book it is a Wonderfull Testimony and Opend my eye’s and made me Thenk about Were i am With God in my life thank u