Award winning singer/songwriter Matthew West, will discuss how knowing the real you in Christ changes everything.
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NARRATOR: Matthew west
is an award winning
artist who burst onto the
Christian music scene in 2003.
Four years later with two
albums and numerous hits
under his belt, Matthew
suddenly lost his voice.
A blood vessel
hemorrhage paralyzed
his left vocal cord, and his
career came to a screeching
halt. Known for his music,
Matthew felt like nothing
without it.
In his book "Hello
My Name Is", Matthew
shares how God
got his attention,
in his season of silence.
And a message of hope that
came through loud and clear.
Well joining me
now is Matthew West.
And Matthew, thanks
for being with us.
It's my pleasure,
great to see you.
What's it like
to lose your voice?
I mean here you are--
I mean all these
awards, everything.
All the acclaim, everything--
career's going great
and then suddenly, bam.
It felt like a bam.
It literally felt like I was on
the edge of dreams coming true.
My career was taking off,
and then my voice takes off.
And it was just like that
screeching halt moment in life,
where--
I've had a series of
experiences in my life
where, I thought I was going
to be a professional baseball
player.
That didn't happen,
screeching halt.
And the Lord says, well I
have another dream for you.
And yet here I was,
making Christian music
using my gifts to
glorify God and it comes
to a screeching halt again.
It was a helpless
feeling and it was
one where I found myself coming
to that place of surrender,
like never before really.
I had a young family at the
time, My wife, my little baby
girl at the time.
Now I have two daughters.
But how am I going
to provide for them.
All of the questions
that any of us
ask when we face a crossroads
and a crisis in our lives.
GORDON ROBERTSON: Did
you get mad about it?
I mean here you are worshipping
God with your voice.
And, you're encouraging
others to worship
and suddenly, that stops.
Honestly, I had a hard
time even going to church
because I was mad.
And what bothered
me so much was,
I tried to go to
the church where
I was a member, and
everybody standing around me
singing these worship songs.
And I can't even
sing, and I just left.
And I remember being
that frustrated.
And I spent a lot of time,
I got real discouraged,
really depressed.
Spent a lot of time by myself.
Just pouring out
my heart to God.
Writing, trying to
stay close to God.
But also realizing that he
can handle my frustrations.
And so, it was a hard time.
Especially, I'm
an extrovert man.
I'm singing songs I'm
doing what I love.
I love talking to people.
And that was taken away from me.
And through it I realized,
I had placed a lot of weight
on that identity that I
was building as a singer,
as a songwriter, as a
personality with a platform.
And when all of a
sudden that foundation
that I was putting all
my weight on, it shifted.
And I didn't realize
who I was anymore.
And that's where it got
started from the beginning
all over again.
Let's go back to
that church moment.
Because I like to think
church as a sanctuary.
Church is a place where, if
you need help, you can go.
But sometimes, I know in my
own life when I needed help,
church was the last
place I wanted to go.
Isn't that funny?
Why was it for you?
Yeah.
Well I'm a preacher's kid.
And I've seen that all too well.
And I've seen that a lot
of times there are people
don't feel comfortable
coming to church,
with the very broken
parts of their lives.
They wonder what people
might think about them
or how people might respond.
For me it was a reminder, that
I can't do what I love to do.
I can't use my voice.
I didn't feel like I could be
real with the discouragement
that I was feeling.
And the reason was, for my
whole life from a preacher's kid
to a contemporary
Christian singer,
I've become what I would
call, and you probably
know this well, a
Professional Christian.
Which is a dangerous
place to be.
We spend our whole lives
living out our faith
in the public spotlight.
And it's possible.
I've discovered to
live, and talk, and act
all the right ways so
that everybody around me
goes man, now he's got
it all together but--
GORDON ROBERTSON: Yeah, but
it keeps you from being real.
It keeps you from
being real, authentic,
and your heart can be
in critical condition.
And so I had a hard
time being in church
with a smile on my
face, when I was
going through the crisis
of my life at the time.
And--
Did you have any group at
all you could talk to and say--
or communicate with--
If you can't, just
be with, and--
I joke that my wife-- the
two months that I had to spend
in silence, my wife called
that the greatest two months
of our marriage.
But in all seriousness,
I had her with me,
helping me through that.
I don't think she had ever
seen me so discouraged before.
I'm also thankful
that, I mentioned
being a preacher's kid.
I'm thankful for
my mom and my dad
because in the midst of
watching them live out
a public expression
of their faith day in
and day out as a
pastor, they also
showed me a great example of
what authenticity looks like.
And they were there with me
walking with me through that.
I'll never forget being wheeled
in for surgery on my throat
and my dad was with me.
And he was getting
ready to pray for me.
And he reminded me
of Philippians 4:13,
which he had taught me as a kid.
And he reminded me
of it, on my way
to school, hey son,
whats Philippians 4:13?
Before I'd go up to
bat at the high school
baseball games he'd
shout from the bleachers,
what's Philippians 4:13?
And I'd be like, dad
you're embarrassing me.
But going in for that
surgery on my throat
and my dad said,
hey, what is it?
Philippians 4:13.
And that's when I realized
that God's promises are not
just for an athletic event.
God's promises are
not just for the tests
that you hope you pass
that, you didn't study for.
God's promises are for the
greatest test of our lives.
And he did bring me
through that test.
But he brought me
through it with a renewed
sense of identity and
realizing, you know what?
If my voice never
comes back, if I'm not
able to become a big
singer like I hope to be,
am I going to be OK?
And I could really--
I knew I was in a new
place when I could really
take a deep breath and
say, I'm daring to believe
that God has a new dream for me,
even if this dream goes away.
How much of your identity was
caught up in both your voice,
and in this, I want to be
a professional Christian,
I want to do great
things for God?
How much of that?
I mean at the time, so much.
And guess what?
It's still a daily struggle
because I think there's a--
when I was writing the
book, I found myself
having to get honest about,
why am I doing what I do?
Even as-- did I write
this book to prove
that I could write a book?
Did I write this
book to show people
that I have a gift with words?
What's my motivation?
And man, if that's
a daily question,
it's a dangerous question.
But if we ask ourselves
daily, it's a good question
and it's a game
changer question.
Because when we check
our motives at the door
and get honest about them
then I feel like God gets us
where he wants us.
That's what's
happened for me to go
Lord, what's my purpose here?
I know I love to sing songs,
I know I love to write books.
But every day check,
search me and know me.
Let me know if there's
the wrong motivation doing
this interview today.
Is it because I
hope I sell a book?
Or do I really hope that
people will find their identity
in Christ, and that this
could be a powerful tool
to speak to them.
So that's been a
daily struggle for me.
The book actually helped
me get to the core of some
of my motives, when
they get astray.
And the closer we
stay to God obviously,
the more we can
hear his whisper.
Whether it's gentle or strong
say, hey, come back you're
getting off path.
Remember why you do this.
Remember I have plans
for you, and remember
I'm the one who's
going to get the glory.
GORDON ROBERTSON: One of the
things-- one of the watch
verses for me is the
words of our mouths,
but the meditation of our heart.
Is that acceptable to him?
And that one has caught me
up short a couple times.
More than a couple.
You just-- is my
meditation of what
I'm thinking about right
now, is it acceptable inside?
Nothing like spending a couple
of months in total silence to--
You got to meditate.
Yeah, and there's a book
I read that talked about,
silence being a furnace for
transformation, solitude.
And I started to realize
we don't like silence.
We don't like solitude.
Because there we're
alone with our thoughts.
And if we're being honest,
our thoughts can scare us.
Right?
And so getting to the core--
GORDON ROBERTSON: I'm the
other way I actually like it.
MATTHEW WEST: See,
yeah I've learned--
I like those rules.
Be still and know that I am God.
I love that.
That's it.
And my initial knee jerk,
I don't know about you,
is I'll fidget.
I'm going to turn on a TV
program, I'm going to--
I need noise.
Occupy time.
But if I can fight through
that and get to the stillness,
I believe all of our
souls are thirsty
for that season of
silence that I had.
And I find myself
sometimes, it's
like I kind of want to go back.
I know it was a big
trial in my life
but man, God spoke to
me in a powerful way.
And what I learned is if
I finally stop talking,
he's ready to
speak into my life.
That's why be still,
and know that I am God.
And my translation
was, stop talking,
be silent and allow
God to do the talking.
A lot of times I
stay in his presence
long enough to read my
list of prayer requests.
GORDON ROBERTSON: Here
are the things I want.
Right.
But what if God's
saying, hey stay awhile.
Let me pour in you.
I just want to spend time.
Let's just talk.
What identity has been
forged in you after this?
[SIGHING] I'd love to think
that on my name tag now,
where it did say hello,
my name is control freak.
I'd love to believe that
that's been crossed out
and in its place maybe
a word like, surrender.
And I wrote about
that in the book.
I'm the kind of guy that, when I
plan my family's beach vacation
I'm on the weather app
constantly, making sure--
and if I see that
storm cloud icon,
I get worried that our whole
vacation is going to be ruined.
As if I can control the weather.
And the same went for my career.
I'm a go-getter, I'm a
dreamer, I'm going to work,
I'm going to make
this happen, It's
going to go like
this because I'm
going to do this and the other.
And really being brought to
my knees and realizing that,
I'm helpless without God.
I found that surrender-- when
surrender gets on your name
tag--
when every day you
wake up and go,
I don't want to take a step
if God's not leading it.
Man, that's when our lives
become the most fulfilling.
So I'd love to believe that
surrenders on my name tag.
But I'm sure you know,
that's a daily prayer--
That's a daily plan.
--and that's a daily struggle.
And you think you
made the decision.
You think I've
turned my life over.
But so much of, well
I need some me time
starts to invade and then my
agenda, and not his agenda.
When I was going through
a really dark time
my father came to me and he
gave me this wonderful verse,
"that a man can receive
nothing unless it
is given to him by the Lord."
And so let's seek him.
He's the source of everything.
And my agenda my goals,
my dreams, my whatever,
is so minuscule compared to
what he has in store, so.
How's this changed your worship?
Well that's a great question.
I think even what
you just said about--
which I love that you
had a father speaking
into you, and still do.
And mine as well.
I think we're a couple of
preachers kids sitting here,
right?
And we lived to tell about it.
We can share some stories.
Yeah, I will say, I'd
love to also believe that,
hello my name is thankful.
That when we realize
that nothing--
that every good and perfect
gift, is not something
we've gotten because
we've earned it
or because we worked hard
enough or we proved our worth.
But if we know the source
of that gift, our creator.
The one who gives
us our identity,
is the one who gives
us every good thing
we have in this life.
I tell you I mean,
the gratitude I
had coming back even
from a throat surgery,
I'll never forget the first
song when the surgeons said,
OK go back into the studio.
Kick the tires a
little bit, right.
And I started singing again.
The very first song I
was scheduled to sing
was a song called
"You are everything",
which some of the viewers
might know from the radio.
But it literally talks about
how if I lost everything I have
in this life, as long
as I hold on to Jesus
I have everything I need.
I didn't really understand
the meaning of those lyrics,
until I went through
a season like that.
But that's how God works.
And so I really
wake up every day--
just the fact that I can
do an interview with you
today, the fact
that I have a voice,
I have a renewed
sense of purpose.
I don't want to waste the voice
that's been given back to me.
Whether it's through
writing a book
about finding our
identity in Christ,
or singing another song.
I'm thankful for every
opportunity that I get.
GORDON ROBERTSON: Amen.
The book is "Hello My Name Is".
It's By Matthew west.
It's available in
stores, nationwide.
Thank you for your heart.
Thanks for being with us.
MATTHEW WEST: Thank you.
Appreciate it.