Given the problems at home, Matt found support and encouragement as part of an Anglican Church where the youth leader was Mike Pilavachi, who went on to lead Soul Survivor, a spiritual youth movement. Matt remembers, “It was a great church because it had a strong emphasis on encouraging young people to run with stuff. I got into leading worship early, at the age of 15, and then in youth groups. And by the age of 16, I was traveling around on teams from the church. So it was a fantastic environment to grow up in.

   

“I was happy to be in the Church of England, because the whole liturgical aspect of things showed me that there are certain truths that we need to be visiting regularly in our worship. It gave me a real foundation, and it gave me a passion for the historical expressions of worship, like hymns.”

   

Matt credits not only his early discipleship for the depth and meaning in his songs, but acknowledges that the hard times he’s experienced have played a role. “I get a lot of email—I get more encouragement than anyone would ever need—and people are really kind, especially about ‘Blessed Be Your Name,’ and ‘You Never Let Go’ which share some real hard, life things. I could never have written those songs if I hadn’t gone through some of this stuff.

   

“I’m not trying to say that every cloud has a silver lining; some things happen—we’ve had some miscarriages, and I’ll never understand that till the day I die. I’m not going to understand some things, but God’s holding all things together; He’s making some great plans. So, I’m saying that time after time, I’ve seen God work good things out of terrible situations in life.

   

“In Psalm 13, there are six or seven questions in a row, ‘How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?’ It’s question after question after question, but then you get to the end, and he says, ‘But I trust in your unfailing love.’ He’s not saying that everything’s cool now, but he’s saying it’s a matter of trust. I don’t get this. I long to be free from this suffering, but at the end of the day I trust You.

   

“So, I don’t want to smooth it all over, but I would love to give people an eternal perspective, and say, as the Bible says, that however terrible and deep and harsh and weighty their suffering seems right now, it is going to be outweighed. There’s a great line in that old hymn, ‘On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand’: ‘When darkness seems to hide His face/I rest on His unchanging grace.’ You perhaps can’t see it right now, but God is holding you still. I hope that people can walk out saying, ‘Even though my circumstance hasn’t changed, I know that God is holding me, and I will hold on until the storm passes.’”

Matt Redman’s latest album is Beautiful News (sixsteps), which features the hit songs “Shine” and “You Never Let Go.”

Visit mattredman.com for more info.

Quincy is The Rev. Dr. Brian Q. Newcomb, pastor of Christ Church of Maplewood, Mo., just left of St. Louis ... and just left of about everybody, for that matter. myccm.org/BQN