Sadie Robertson Huff, Singer Anna Golden Talk Healing from Church Hurt
By Movieguide® Contributor
Christian musical artist Anna Golden recently talked with Sadie Robertson Huff about how she found beauty and restoration after being hurt by the church.
“I grew up in church, and I’ve been actually working in full-time ministry for over 10 years, and it’s been my absolute favorite thing, like I was the kind of kid that just lived in church,” she shared on Huff’s “Whoa That’s Good” podcast.
“I really loved it. I was probably so churchy as a kid to look at the point of where I was maybe annoying, but I was in every internship. I was also homeschooled. I didn’t have a lot else going on, so I was like ‘Church, that’s my life,’” she explained.
Throughout her time in ministry, though, Golden realized how flawed people are—even those with titles—and it devastated her.
“Working in ministry, it’s like you see behind the curtain of things, and you see that…people are people no matter what building they’re in, no matter what title they’re in, no matter if there’s a pastor in front of their name or not,” she continued.
“Obviously when [I was] younger, I didn’t really have the wherewithal or the discernment to know that, so it was crushing. I remember my first year working in ministry and being like ‘People do what?!’ and it was just devastating to me.”
Golden explained how these experiences led her to feel brokenhearted and discouraged.
Going to counseling helped her to work through some of those feelings. Eventually, she began working for a church in Dallas called Shoreline City Church, and the pastors there helped her to heal even more.
“I saw through the lens of healthy ministry and healthy leaders, like the way that it really started to heal my past…these little cracks in my heart,” Golden said. “I knew that when I got out of counseling, I had…scabs, but I didn’t have scars yet, so I knew wherever I was going, it could have gotten worse or we could have healed.”
She has used those experiences and her struggles with mental health to launch her music career.
“Golden has been open about her struggles with mental health, and she weaves some of those experiences into her worship music. Her 2021 debut album ‘Peace,’ she says, ‘was really about [my] journey with mental health’ and the album’s eponymous lead single ‘was a song that the Lord gave me during a panic attack,’” the Brunswick News reported.
“Through it all, she says, worship has remained her safe place. ‘In the chaos of what it felt like to be OCD, there was just this little space that I could always open the door to and just sit in that never changed and never moved. Sitting down, talking to the Lord through music, it really just did change my life,’” she said, according to the outlet.
Her most recent album, “Church,” released in August. In an Instagram post announcing the record, she shared how she hopes it impacts people.
“This is a record for God’s church. Written and rooted in scripture. To edify the sometimes fractured image of what it looks like to be the body of Christ. This will serve as a holy charge much like John wrote in Revelation 2 to the church of Ephesus, ‘return to your first love,’” Golden wrote.
“Still can’t believe it’s out…this album means the whole world to me. every song. every note. does anyone have a favorite yet??” she posted more recently.