How God Used Music to Help This Singer Heal
By Movieguide® Contributor
After her brother died after committing an act of violence, musician Eve Selis explained that God used music to heal her and bring light into the world during a time of pain.
Though Selis will always remember her brother as a kind, sweet, funny man, everyone else will remember him for an act of violence that left six injured, one dead and resulted in him losing his life.
“It was international news within hours, and I fell into the darkest place I’ve ever been,” Selis told the “Jesus Calling” podcast. “I felt like I was in the darkness that my brother must have been in in order for something like that to happen. None of us could believe it. The man that did that was not the man I knew for forty-nine years, the man I grew up with, the man I love and still love to this day.”
“There’s just so many unanswered questions when something tragic happens, you are in shock. And your trauma…you can’t breathe. You go into hiding. There’s so much shame involved. And there’s literally nobody to talk to,” Selis continued.
Even after attending counseling for a year and putting countless resources towards healing from this terrible event, Selis remained incredibly wounded by the legacy her brother left. However, within that pain, she felt God calling her to find healing through music.
“I just felt like I must write about this. It was necessary, because I didn’t have people to talk to about this. Music is so healing. I thought, ‘Oh my goodness, I’m going to start writing songs that help me get through this grief,’” she explained.
“It’s a spiritual job to be a musician, and music connects us to something bigger than us, and I believe that it’s the closest thing to the divine that we have,” Selis continued. “God is just pouring His [love] like, ‘Hey, write a song about this.’ And in that year, when I started writing these songs, I realized I wasn’t alone.”
Selis found incredible healing throughout this process. Eventually, she began to realize that these songs weren’t just for her but were also helping millions of people who had lost loved ones under similar circumstances.
“People would come up to me who knew me and knew what happened, and you can always tell when someone’s going to come to comfort you, right, to give you a hug. And I thought, ‘Oh, that’s so sweet, they’re coming to comfort me,’” Selis recalled. “But what happened was they were actually coming for me to comfort them, because what happened to me and my family opened the door for them to share their tragedy. Their brother did this, their dad committed suicide, their mom overdosed, whatever it was, because nobody wants to talk about this stuff.”
“Until we have compassion for each other and we can see each other as one — that any one of us is capable of darkness under the right circumstances,” she added, “and making an emotional, horrible mistake, and doing something that they can never change, we’re not going to make it in this world, and we’re never going to find the peace that comes from God and how He uses everything for His purpose and changes everything for good.”
Despite the terrible situation that Selis had to face, her story reveals how God truly can use all things for His glory.
“More and more I’m learning that hardship, grief and tragedy make music not just an occupation or a diversion — but a necessity,” she said on her website. “Sharing music is as essential as food and water to me.”
While still a few months out, the singer is already gearing up for her Christmas concert.
“So I walked into Costco two weeks ago and saw these Christmas decorations up even before Halloween decorations!!! And I thought to myself well since everyone is already promoting the holiday season, I might as well promote my annual holiday concert in San Diego on Saturday, 12/14 at 6:30 PM,” she announced on Instagram.
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