Maverick city Music's Naomi Raine shared the story behind her new solo album "Journey," a recollection of her personal story with Jesus.
In her interview with The Christian Post, the Grammy-award winning artist shared her inspiration for making the album. Though it was not considered worship music that congregations would sing every Sunday, Raine said that she aimed to inspire people with her journey in facing the truth, knowing that most Christians struggle with the lies of the enemy.
It doesn't mean that when she sings confidently before God and has a strong Christian background, she is free from challenges and hardships. The native of Queens, New York reminisced when God let her see His grace and glory. She's is actively involved in the church, but got distracted along the way. She met her now-husband and got pregnant outside marriage.
Raine recalled it was her turning moment. When she's worshipping God, "The Lord used that time to deal with me and teach me not just about His presence, but about who He is." She learned her good works don't add up to her salvation and realized that it was through God's grace alone. "He makes all things new and makes it beautiful, that my righteousness is as filthy rags," she added.
Facing Lies Through Devotion And Worship
Even after becoming a successful singer for Maverick City Music, she heard the enemy telling her lies, shutting her up, telling her nobody wants to listen and nobody cares about her voice. Raine faced these lies through devotion and worship to Jesus. Then she realized the Lord wanted those personal and private conversations with Him to come out.
She tackled mental illness in her album but it's more of "facing the truth and facing yourself." It's important to deal the lies with truth, the singer said. In her experience, people would go through difficulty if they had someone or friends to talk about these truths. It's hard to face depression alone, so she decided to share the truth through her music.
Also Read: Maverick City Becomes First Christian Group to Perform At Grammy Awards In 20 Years
Facing Fears and Criticisms
To people who criticized her saying that she's singing for the Lord because she had a smooth life, she said "I can only sing that because I've gone through that with Him." Raine noted that she was not pretending that God guided her in writing her songs.
After 15 years of being with Maverick City, this was the first time that Raine would release her solo album. She admitted that it's frightening, knowing that she was known through Maverick City and worship music. Nevertheless, she said she's comfortable because she knows it was based on her real-life stories that most Christians could relate to.
Raine released her first single "Not Ready" last week noting how the singer needs Jesus in her life because she's a mess. She hoped that listeners would still give her song a shot despite not being a worship song. The Christian artist aimed to let her listeners spark a good conversation with God and with other people.
Related Article: Maverick City Music Tops iTunes Charts With New Album 'Jubilee: Juneteenth Edition'
