Stories. Our lives are filled with them. Each one different; each one significant. Yet, the real power lies in sharing our stories with one another—a lesson singer/songwriter Matthew West learned six years ago.
Long before Matthew was a household name and a radio staple, the troubadour was an in-demand songwriter who had written songs recorded by some of the biggest names in country and Christian music, from Rascal Flatts to Casting Crowns.
After signing a record deal of his own and releasing three moderately successful albums, Matthew went in search of fresh inspiration for his fourth studio record, asking fans to submit their real life stories as the impetus for a new batch of songs.
The Rise of a New Christian Artist
When The Story of Your Life released in 2010, Matthew catapulted himself into an entirely unexpected journey, both personally and professionally.
The album became one of the biggest of his career, landing him critical acclaim, multiple number-one radio singles, and more media attention than ever before. Matthew had unknowingly stumbled onto something brilliant and quite possibly life-changing.Into The Light debuted in 2012, and Live Forever followed in 2015—releases equally marked by fans’ real-life stories.
“The stories just decided it for me,” Matthew said, when asked why he didn’t choose to draw from personal experience for his latest effort. “When people ask me why I keep writing songs inspired by stories, I’m like, ‘How can I not?’”
Matthew says crafting songs from people’s stories has simply become a part of his natural creative process. In the last six years, he’s received more than 40,000 stories from fans.“If I didn’t find so much of my own story in these songs I write, then I might go a different direction,” he says. “One by one, people are reaching out and hopefully discovering that there’s power when someone tells their story.”
Finding God’s Presence in Songwriting
Matthew has had a front-row seat to seeing how God uses our stories for good. “I think one of the main go-to tricks of the enemy is isolation,” he observes. “I think that’s what the devil tries to do with us, and he’ll do that with our stories.” According to Matthew, the biggest tragedy lies in keeping our stories to ourselves.
“God’s plan for our lives is a full-circle plan. It’s not a broken circle; it’s a full circle of redemption,” he maintains. “Many times the only reason we don’t get to see that full circle come to fruition is because we choose to stop it.
“There will be that whisper: ‘You can’t tell your story. Your story is insignificant. Who are you to think that your story can help somebody else?’” he said. “Or for another person, he might get them isolated and thinking, ‘Well, your story is too messed up, man! You can’t tell that part of your story. People are going to judge you.’ What I’ve discovered is that, one by one, people are choosing to charge past the lies of the enemy and share their story.”
God’s Silver Lining in Every Story
Throughout his quest for stories, the singer has tackled hard topics including abuse, divorce, cancer and human trafficking. Yet, the light of hope shines brightly as he finds the silver lining through every narrative, singing of a God bigger and stronger than our earthly circumstances.
“I see these songs as little missions, little messages, little sermons that maybe cut to the heart of somebody who is going through a difficult chapter in their life,” he says. “It’s my hope that these songs inspire people to realize that every one of their stories is a redemption story, and when we live a redemption story, the ultimate redemption is that the story will never end.”
It’s a theme he explores on his album Live Forever, an 11-track ode to making the most of our time on earth.
“It’s a victory record. It’s a reminder that right here, right now, God’s mercy is new,” Matthew says. “You get 86,400 seconds—that’s how many seconds are in 24 hours. How are you going to spend it? Are you going to spend it in defeat, choosing that your best days are behind you, or are you going to spend it in victory, knowing your best days are still to come?”
Article courtesy of HomeLife magazine.