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Granger Smith’s Wife Reveals What Kept Their Marriage Intact During The Family’s Unfathomable Loss
The Smith family continues to open up about the horrible tragedy they went through and how they’ve been able to come out on the other side of it.
In 2019, Granger and Amber Smith experienced unimaginable loss when their 3-year-old son, River, drowned in the family’s backyard pool. It was devastating, and truly tested Granger and Amber individually, and their family as a whole. At the time, Granger was still a country music artist, and has since given up that life to spread the Word of God.
Though the Smith family is doing much better now, Granger’s wife Amber has revealed in her memoir The Girl on the Bathroom Floor that every day after their loss has been a battle. Granger has been very open about his near suicide attempt following the death of his son, and both have done their best to turn the immensely sad story into one of hope and following God.
But in Amber’s book, she says that the accidental drowning really rocked their lives, and even tested their marriage:
“Our loss definitely tested our marriage. (But) at the very beginning, even when River was in the hospital, going in for surgery for his organ donation, my husband and I went out to this healing garden. We looked at each other and said, ‘This is not going to tear our family apart. We’re going to find the good in this. We’re going to choose each other.’
We didn’t know what that was going to look like when we came home without our son. We both grieved very differently. So navigating that was difficult. … We just really had to learn. It was this dance through grief of knowing when to back off, when to lean in, when to pray together and just truly have grace for one another — and grace for our kids.”
If you’ve ever lost someone suddenly, you are likely aware that the grieving process comes with a lot of guilt. Questions like, “What could I have done differently?” and “How could I have prevented this?” ring through your mind just as much as the sadness.
Clearly, Granger and Amber were in a battle with grief, and she later explained what that process looked like for them:
“We grieved hard, and we grieved separately. I grieved in my bathroom, and I know Granger grieved all over the place. There was a difficult time when my husband almost took his life because of the guilt and the shame and the grief. Thankfully, he didn’t, but we just truly had to lean into each other and lean into the community of our church… and do the best you can.
There’s no handbook for grief. But when Granger and I said ‘I do,’ we meant it — for better or for worse. And this was the worst part of our story. We vowed that no matter what came our way, we would fight through it together. And that’s just what we’ve been doing ever since that awful day.”
And to be clear, they aren’t shouldering the weight of that fight on their own.
As I mentioned earlier, Granger Smith made a complete and unexpected career turn in response to the loss of his son. He now dedicates himself to serving the Lord, and spreading the Gospel. Amber, on the other hand, uses God’s teachings to give herself – and others that speak to her about the incident – comfort.
She explained in the book that one of the biggest things that helped keep her and Granger’s marriage intact was the word of God:
“To anyone asking why a loving or good God would allow such heartbreak, I would just point them to the cross. God gave His Son for us. He understands our pain. He understands our suffering, and that was for the good of His people. I know that I can’t always understand the mind of God, and scripture says how unsearchable are His ways, but scripture also says He loves us. He will never forsake us… I had to trust in that.
When those lies were coming in — telling me I was a bad mom, telling me I should have done more — it helped me to go to God’s word. God’s word says every one of our days is numbered. Before the foundation of the world, every one of River’s days was numbered. And no matter what I did, I couldn’t have extended his life any more than he was allotted days on this Earth.”
Amber Smith hopes that her memoir can be a resource to other grieving parents and those who have lost loved ones. She also declared that “God is our source of joy” in the book, and that we cannot make it through life without the Lord.
The Smith family has turned a tragedy into an inspiring story, and one that they hope others can be helped by and lead others to Christ.
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The post Granger Smith’s Wife Reveals What Kept Their Marriage Intact During The Family’s Unfathomable Loss first appeared on Whiskey Riff.
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