After TobyMac's eldest son Truett passed away in 2019, the singer found it hard to write hope-filled songs until God gave him a new word this year.
Truett McKeehan passed away from an accidental drug overdose in October 2019 at the age of 21-years-old. He was an aspiring artist himself.
During an exclusive interview with Reel Faith, TobyMac admitted after his son's death, he "didn’t do anything for a few months." When he finally got back into songwriting, the only thing that came out was "sad, teary-eyed ballad-y songs."
One of those heartwrenching songs was simply titled '21 Years', and the lyrics share the great loss.
"That was all I had in me," TobyMac says. "I just started asking God, ‘What is going on? Is that all I’m going to be able to write? For the rest of my life?"
The first song TobyMac released this year is a song of hope called 'Help is On the Way (Maybe Midnight)' which came out February 19, 2021, along with a music video.
The new tune was inspired by a verse in the Psalms that speaks of God "rolling up His sleeves" to come to our rescue.
"What an image to hold on to, that the God of all creation is rolling up his sleeves on my behalf," he says. "And I just, I just held on to that and started writing immediately."
TobyMac included another son in this music video, Judah McKeehan.
"'Help is On the Way (Maybe Midnight)’ is the first time I think I felt sort of a turnaround where I could express hope. I felt hope through it all. But (the song) is the first time I could express it in an artistic, creative way. The first time I could scream hope from the mountaintop."
The artist also shares how the time at home through the pandemic was a blessing.
"It’s been a season of reflection. The timing of everything—losing my son and then going into this season of being home a lot—it’s been really a gift to me. And I’m really grateful that I could be home with my family quite a bit and not gone as much, not in the studio as much, but just be present with my wife and my kids a lot more than I ever have in my life in my adult life. So, I’m grateful," he says.
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