How Steven Curtis Chapman Cherishes God’s ‘Beautiful Reminders’ Through Music: ‘My Journal Entries’
By Movieguide® Contributor
Storied Christian singer and songwriter Steven Curtis Chapman recently opened up about how he records cherished moments through his song-making.
“So songs are kind of my journal entries, you know, and I can sing them back to myself, and I can listen to them again, and I get to share them with other people and say, ‘Hey maybe, maybe this is a moment…that you need to be reminded of, too,” he told Snapshot Testimony in March. “And God showed up in this moment for me.”
“I’d go through songs like ‘Cinderella,’ you know, written after one night with my little girls, just missing a moment, feeling convicted that they wanted to dance with me. They wanted just to have a moment to make a memory, and it was late, and I was tired and I said, ‘Just get in your pajamas and go to bed, you know. We’ll do that tomorrow,’ and the conviction of that moment that I missed you know turned into a song called ‘Cinderella.’”
That night, Chapman felt a heaviness as he sat down to write “Cinderella.”
“I felt like God was saying, ‘Hey don’t miss it. You’re gonna miss these moments if you don’t stop and pay attention and so my life and my music catalog is full of those [moments].”
Part of the lyrics of “Cinderella” read:
She spins and she sways to whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I’m sitting here wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders
It’s been a long day and there’s still work to do
She’s pulling at me saying “Dad I need you!
There’s a ball at the castle and I’ve been invited
And I need to practice my dancin’
Oh please, Daddy, please!”
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
‘Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don’t want to miss even one song
‘Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight and she’ll be gone
“I was sitting at breakfast with some guys that are in the Christian radio world that I’m sitting with to talk about new music I’m actually — I’ve just finished recording and putting together a new album of music that I’m very excited about 35 years after the release of my first record came out in 1987,” the “Love Take Me Over,” singer said. “Turns out, I still have things to say and things that I feel like I’m compelled to share with anyone who will listen.”
Chapman finds that his conversations with others often turn into songs.
“We sat down and started sharing our stories, and three of the four guys sitting at the table with me all began to unpack their stories of adoption,” Chapman said. “Miracles that had transpired in their families and all pointing kind of back to or tethered back to you know mine and Mary Beth’s journey and our, you know, public platform of sharing our story of adopting our daughters Shaohannah and then Stevey Joy and Maria, and so each of these guys started saying, ‘’Well it was at your concert when you shared, you know, your adoption journey of adopting Shoey that impacted our family.’”
“We came away from that and said we at least need to pray about this, and each of these guys started to tell their stories, and they started to share the, you know, the joy of it but also the hard of it and the challenges, and yet God’s faithfulness through that whole journey, and I just sat, you know, again with tears in my eyes…I’m just sitting there,” Chapman explained. “They’re bursting into tears as they’re telling their stories over something at breakfast at, you know, a busy restaurant.”
As Chapman listened to the stories, he continued to cry. The stories reminded him that while there is a lot of turmoil in the world and uncertainty in his life and the things he’s involved in, there are incredibly beautiful moments, too.
“In the middle of that, it was sort of like God just brought these beautiful reminders of, you know, how he is taking these stories of brokenness and and redeeming these broken stories,” he said.
Chapman came to learn that he inspired many more people with his adoption story. A stranger stopped Chapman in the street and told him that he influenced his and his wife’s decision to foster. After they took in an 18-year-old and her four-month-old, the teen went on to study for a master’s in social work so that she could help others who have been in similar situations as herself.
In 2001, Chapman released a song about love, adoption and his daughter Shaohannah called, “When Love Takes You In.”
“This song was very emotional as I wrote it and really imagined what may have gone on in Shoey’s heart and mind even at seven months old not able to even process it all,” Chapman said about the song. “The song just kind of came out of all that.”
“I think my greatest hope with this song is not that people will be grabbing Kleenex as they listen but that maybe in the process there will be one or two hundred or thousand, who know? God knows how many might hear that and be encouraged and impacted to say you know we’ve thought about that process of adoption and there’s something haunting here I can’t get away from.”
Movieguide® previously reported Chapman’s thoughts on adoption:
Chapman said the adoption process has “transformed” his family, adding, “What a picture of the Gospel!”
“I think it’s John Piper that says it’s the visible gospel, adoption,” the musician continued. “It’s this tangible experience or expression of what we as the sons and daughters of the living God have experienced. We get to reenact that, we get to see that unfold in real time when we enter into the miracle of adoption.”
Chapman lost one of his adopted daughters, Maria, in an accident in 2008. She would have been 21 years old on May 13.
On her birthday this year, Chapman posted a photo of her pretending to surf on the beach with the caption, “Happy 21st Birthday, Maria… little wild one! We miss you so much & can’t wait to see you again!”
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