Mikey Howard, lead singer for Christian rock band 7eventh Time Down, says he had to put his “money where my mouth was” when he and his wife lost a child to miscarriage last year.
Howard, known for songs like “Just Say Jesus” and “God Is On the Move,” told Faithwire he doesn’t know how people are able to navigate life’s storms without being anchored in Christ.
Looking back, the singer-songwriter said experiencing a miscarriage was “the most difficult season my wife and I had ever walked through,” noting there is no closure with miscarriage.
“We were pregnant one day and we were excited about new life coming into the world and then the next day, I get a call from my wife,” he recalled, “and there was no longer a baby with a heartbeat.”
At that point, the father of two, who was on tour at the time, was forced to cling to the faith his songs describe. That was all he had.
“The rubber met the road. I had to really put my money where my mouth is,” Howard said. “I’m on the road telling people, ‘Hey, when you don’t know what to say, speak the name of Jesus and he’s gonna come and he’s gonna help you. When times are tough, you need to respond like Christ, and everything’s gonna be OK.’”
The bandleader remembered going on stage that night — just hours after his wife told him about their miscarriage — and having to tell his audience, “God is good,” a three-word lesson he was wrestling with in ways he had never done before.
“I still get emotional talking about it,” Howard continued. “I had to get up and tell people that God is good and that he had a plan. But the plans that I thought he had for me felt like they got torn. I felt like a part of me had gotten torn off.”
Hollywood Producer Wears Key Necklace with Powerful Christian Meaning
In that difficult season, the singer said he had to make a choice between continuing to trust God in the midst of heartbreak, or digging his heels in, and turning away from everything he wrote about in his songs.
Howard, his wife, and their two children chose to trust God “even in the hard times.”
“Not that that made the pain go away, not that we automatically got closure. It was none of that. It was more like a peace, an understanding, that Christ — in our sorrow — was there, in our home, taking up residence, doing life and he was on that journey of struggle with us,” he said. “That made it bearable.”
It’s that reality — that life isn’t perfect and that so often things don’t turn out the way we thought they would — that inspires Howard’s lyrics, particularly with the band’s latest album, “Brand New Day,” which releases Friday, March 1.
Part of the writing process, Howard explained, is the mixing and melding of of life’s daily struggles and victories, and discussing those with his bandmates. Eventually, perhaps in a cathartic way, those conversations often turn to melodies.
“It’s very humbling to know that God would allow me to be a part — a small part — in a song that he was gonna use and he had plans for to help thousands of people come to know him,” Howard said of his band’s hit singles “God Is On the Move” and “Just Say Jesus.”
7eventh Time Down’s forthcoming album, “Brand New Day,” is available now for pre-order.