Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/1498414
30 | WheelsOfGrace.com | #67 Country music star Granger Smith is opening up about how his relationship with God helped him after the tragic death of his three-year-old son. The singer says he found hope after hitting "rock bottom" and is encouraging other believers to "surrender to God" in the midst of life's darkest moments. Smith, 43, has navigated the Country scene with 11 albums and a No. 1 hit titled "Backroad Song" in 2016. Now, he is making his acting debut in a Pure Flix film called "Moonrise." In the film, Granger portrays a widowed, Country singer navigating life after the loss of his wife, Fox News reports. "I just thought, 'Wow, that's a really good story. I really like the story,'" he told the outlet. "I didn't think about how difficult it would be to memorize the entire script and to go through that month-long, rigorous journey of filming this feature-length movie, but I really enjoyed it." Smith also shared about the day he lost his three-year-old son, River, in a tragic drowning accident. "He drowned at our home, in our home pool, and I was there," he said. He recalled, "I was 15 feet away from this. I was doing gymnastics with my daughter, and River was playing water gunfight with our son, Lincoln. And somehow, he got into our gated locked pool. Within seconds, right behind me while I was doing gymnastics with our daughter, he was in the pool and had inhaled water. Became unconscious. When I pulled him out, I didn't know CPR, besides what I had seen in the movies, and we lived out in the country. So, it took paramedics 10 minutes to get there. That's too long to go without oxygen to his little brain, and it ended up being irreversible," Smith said. Little River died the next day, and emotional toll on the family was brutal. "The months and years following that were rock bottom for me," Smith told Fox. Smith and his wife, Amber Bartlett, struggled at first. "We went down a journey that I thought I could on my own with self-help and self-improvement and exercise and positivity and visualization, meditation and devotionals," he explained. "I thought I could just mend it, fix it and move on, and I couldn't." Smith says it was not until he "surrendered to God" that he found true hope, joy, and peace. "God gave River to us for three years and that was his mission," the musician said in 2019. "I don't think God takes anyone too soon. I believe he was put on this earth for the exact amount of time... He lived a good 1,000 days. That's a huge example for me and how we're going to look at every single day." Smith wants to encourage other parents who have gone through similar tragedies and advises that they lean into God. He said, "Once we know that, then we could stop saying 'Why, God, why did you do this to me?' 'Why would a good God allow this to happen?' Instead, we could then say, 'What, God? What are you trying to show me in this? What do I need to learn from this? To be closer to you. To understand you better. To help serve others around me. What do I need to know?'" T oday is World Drowning Prevention Day. It's estimated that 236,000 people drown annually and it's the leading cause of accidental death for children 1-4 years old - I wish I didn't have a connection with a day like today. I wish I didn't have to advocate for water safety and drowning prevention but this is the journey our family is now walking so we press on. —————————————————— We encourage everyone to take necessary water safety precautions. - enroll in @infantswimmingresource lessons (ISR swim survival classes) - install pool fencing, locks, alarms - no puddle jumpers or floaties in pools - using coast guard approved life jackets on open water - learn CPR - supervision - remove toys from pools when finished - drain bathtubs, baby pools, buckets - wear neon bright colored swimsuits for visibility in water (avoid blues and whites) —————————————————— We would like to raise money today to help with swim scholarships, swim lessons and helping to provide training for new ISR instructors. If you would like to donate to @theriverkellyfund to help aid in our mission, please visit www.riverkellyfund.org or click my stories for the link ❤️ Thank you all so much for always supporting our mission and family and our sweet red head boy #livelikeriv #drowningprevention Country Singer Granger Smith Shares How He Found God After Losing 3-Year-Old Son and Hitting Rock Bottom 30 | WheelsOfGrace.com | #67 By Talia Wise