Singer/songwriter Matthew West is on a mission to transform life stories into life-changing songs.
Over the past decade of touring and performing concerts, West has been greatly impacted by hearing personal testimonies of victories and struggles. With his love for storytelling, West was inspired to share some of these experiences on his album, “The Story of Your Life,” in 2010.
After he asked people to send their stories, West was inundated with responses and never expected to receive more than 10,000 stories from 20 countries.
“I’ve always been sort of a storyteller at heart and writing songs that told the story of my life,” West said. “My focus shifted when I was getting ready to work on that album. I thought it might be interesting to see what would happen if I turned the microphone around and created songs based on other people’s experiences. That was the initial plot behind it, but what wound up happening from that one little idea was an experience much bigger than I originally anticipated.”
West took the time to read each story, and many of the experiences moved him to tears as people shared their greatest joys and most heart-wrenching moments.
“The mountaintop experiences and the joys that we have, those are all defining moments in our lives. But the stories that were most often shared were the weakest moments. People shared the greatest trials they’ve ever faced — the illness that they suffered, the loved one that they lost, the desire to have a child — and many people shared about abuse or addictions they were dealing with.”
‘Window into their world’
“This has changed me and challenged me to look at the world in a different way,” he said. “These people were trusting me to be their messenger. I was up late into the night for several months just reading about people’s lives and I felt like I had been given a window into their world.
“My desire is that people will realize that their life is telling a story, and by allowing God to work and mend the broken pieces, it can be a beautiful story that impacts the world around them.”
Because of the overwhelming response West was encouraged to continue sharing listeners’ stories with the release of his album, “Into the Light,” and his newest project, “Live Forever.”
An award-winning artist, West has garnered an American Music Award, Billboard Music Award, multiple ASCAP Songwriter/Artist of the Year honors and Grammy nominations.
In addition to writing songs, West also has written several devotional books.
God’s still working
“I want to encourage people to realize that God hasn’t stopped working in their lives,” West said. “I think a lot of times we get so defeated in our lives — thinking we’ve made too many mistakes or that our lives are too bruised and broken — that we can’t have any impact in the world. The truth is that no matter how many mistakes you’ve made or trials you’ve faced, it’s the brokenness of our lives that God uses to give us something to say to the world. I hope it’s an empowering message that people can cling to during difficult times, when they realize that God has something to say to us and through us.
“I try to share with people from personal experience that I’m living proof that we can do great things when we put our lives in God’s hands. … I’ve been sharing with audiences that life is too short to just go through the motions. It’s so important to live every moment like we believe that life is precious and short, because we’re not guaranteed any moment beyond the moment we’re in right now.”
West’s own life story includes difficult trials and challenges, including experiencing two months of silence and a nearly career-ending vocal surgery in 2007 because of a vascular polyp and hemorrhaged blood vessels on his vocal chord.
After a time of healing, West re-emerged in early 2008 with an appropriately titled album, “Something to Say.”
“In many ways this trial gave a deeper understanding of God’s love, grace and faithfulness,” West said. “ When you surrender everything to the Lord, He will show you what new life is like and what He can do with your mistakes and amplify His voice through you in a huge way.
“I want people to know that … even in the silence, there is still great hope to be shared, a story to be told and something to say.”
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