TobyMac Has ‘Deeper Relationship with God’ After Son’s Death
By Movieguide® Contributor
TobyMac’s new album is all about honoring his late son as he moves to “the next phase” of grieving the loss.
“It’s walking through this and getting to a point where you can breathe again and live again,” the singer told People. “And still grieving deeply but gaining a footing to where you can throw your fist up in the air and say, ‘I’m going to live. I’m going to live to honor God… and to believe, but also to honor my son.’”
TobyMac’s son Truett McKeehan, 21, passed away in 2019 of an accidental drug overdose.
“He was always grateful to us, always saw us, never discounted us,” he said of his son. “I’m so grateful for that. There wasn’t a distant relationship. Sure, we had rubs, he was a wild child… God loves the wild ones. And I believe that with all my heart.”
TobyMac first shared his grief in his 2022 album, Life After Death, which helped him reestablish his “trust” in God.
“My faith has been rejuvenated because of it,” he shared.
He told ChurchLeaders, “I have a deeper relationship with God than I’ve ever had, because I walked through the valley with Him, and I decided I trusted Him.”
“I just felt like everything was beautiful and perfect until the last few years, and then when we lost Truett and everything changed…I met grief in the fiercest way,” TobyMac said. “God doesn’t promise us He will take away the cold. He promises He will be right there in it with us. That’s what I held on to, and I found Him there, or He found me there.”
In his latest project, Heaven on My Mind, TobyMac explores his own thoughts about going to heaven.
“My life isn’t bad down here. I have beautiful children, a beautiful wife, I’m so blessed. We have a beautiful house… But for some reason lately, I’ve had heaven on my mind a little bit more,” he explained. “And I think I know the reason, there’s people I love, that I believe are there, and they’re waiting.”
TobyMac continued, “It’s not like I’m standing around just thinking about eternity or heaven. I feel like I’m here and I want to live every day with purpose. I’m here for a reason. I don’t want to miss what’s in front of me.”
In an interview with Billboard, the artist shared his hopes that his deeply personal music touches others who might be going through the same thing.
“I call it the good, the bad, the ugly of my life. Those just end up on the pages of my lyric notebook,” he said. “We’re all facing some relationships going great, and some relationships that are struggling and there are deep valleys. If I write from my life and I’m experiencing all those things, I find that people relate to it. It resonates with people because we’re not that different from each other.”
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