Mental Health Awareness Month
Hi ladies it's me again and happy Lord's day! I hope and pray that each of you ladies and your families are doing well. I'm happy to present another blog for the month of May which is called ''Mental Health Awareness Month''. The first blog I'll be sharing about is called ''Amy Grant's Journey To Wellness''. In this blog I'll be sharing about Amy Grant's journey of faith, family, music, mental and physical health as well as the hills and valleys that she has faced in her life. First of all let's start off how she came into the world. She was born to the late Dr Burton and his late wife Gloria Dean nee Napier who were married in the 1950s. They had four daughters with Amy being the youngest who was born in 1960 in Augusta, Georgia. Amy's family members moved to Nashville, Tennessee when she was a child in 1967. Amy Grant grew up in a Christian home and grew up singing hymns in church because that was the main thing churches sang back in the day. It wasn't until 1973 when Amy was a teenager that a revival broke out in Nashville is what caused her to give her life to Christ in a nontraditional way. When she gave her life to Christ, she began learning how to play the acoustic guitar and began writing songs about faith. As time progressed she connected with a Christian, youth leader, and producer by the name of Brown Bannister that encouraged Amy Grant to record a demo tape at a Christian college named ''Belmont University''. When Amy was still in her teens, Brown played Amy's demo tape over the phone for Word records a Christian record label and they offered a record deal! Amy thought it was a practical joke when Brown called her about it and she got in trouble for being on the phone after hours. Then Amy got signed to Word records and released her self-titled debut album in 1977. Amy would be the ''godmother of Contemporary Christian music'' for women while the late Larry Norman would be the ''godfather of Contemporary Christian music'' for men. (Side note how Contemporary Christian music got started was due to hippies who got saved during the ''Jesus Movement'' and Christians wanted to sing something other than hymns.) Amy continued touring to promote the album and eventually graduated from high school in 1978. She later attended ''Furman University'' in Greenville, North Carolina. In 1979 Amy released her sophomore album called ''My Father's Eyes'' and in 1980 released her third album ''Never Alone''. She later transferred from ''Furman University'' to ''Vanderbilt University'' in Nashville, Tennessee and started dating Contemporary Christian artist Gary Chapman. As Amy's touring schedule increased it became too hectic to the point she decided to drop out of college to further her music career. Eventually in 1982 Amy married Gary Chapman and remained married to him for the next seventeen years. That was also the same year she released her album ''Age To Age'' which featured singles called ''Sing Your Praise To The Lord'', ''In A Little While'', and most of all her signature song ''El-Shaddai''. She won two Dove awards for that release and received her first Grammy award for that album as well. ''Age To Age'' was the first Christian album to go Gold in 1983 and first to go Platinum in 1985! Whew what an accomplishment! Amy released more albums throughout the 1980s such as her first Christmas album released in 1983, ''Straight Ahead'', (released in 1984) ''Unguarded'', (released 1985) and ''Lead Me On'' (released in 1988). (Side note I've done some Amy Grant cover songs on my youtube channel stating she's one of my favorite artists because her songs fit my range.) Her popularity increased by that point, had sold-out stadiums, won more Dove awards and gained more Grammy awards for her released work. As time continued to progress Amy decided to transition her creativity from the Contemporary Christian music world to the secular pop music world and released ''Heart In Motion'' in 1991. That caused a significant amount of controversy because her hit single ''Baby Baby'' was a pop tune causing many to be upset at Amy's decisions. Despite that, Amy released more albums in the 1990s such as her second Christmas album ''Home For Christmas'', (1992) ''House Of Love'', (released 1994 duet with country singer Vince Gill and 1994 was the year I was born) ''Behind The Eyes'', (released 1997) and her third Christmas album ''A Christmas To Remember''. Amy also faced a significant amount of troubles in her first marriage to Gary Chapman because got a good period of time he struggled with drugs until he overcame it in the 1990s. There were challenges dealing with the spotlight which negatively impacted Amy and Gary's marriage but despite that they managed to have three children together. Matthew Garrison Amy's son was born in 1987, Gloria Mills ''Mille'' was born in 1989, and Sarah Cannon was born in 1992. Amy's kids had to deal with the challenges of the spotlight too which got even worse when their parents Amy Grant and Gary Chapman divorced in 1999 causing there to be more controversy for Amy's actions. Christian radio stations refused to play her songs, some stores pulled her albums, and many Christians sadly got a judgmental attitude for Amy Grant when she and her family went through a difficult time. Amy later dated longtime friend country artist Vince Gill and married him in the year 2000 while Gary Chapman married Jenny Pittman in 2000 as well too. (They later divorced in 2007 and in 2008 Gary married Cassie and they later adopted daughter Eva Rose.) Amy adopted Vince's daughter Jenny from Vince's previous marriage Janis Oliver from country band ''Sweethearts Of The Rodeo''. Vince and Amy had a daughter named Corrina born in 2001 a great addition to their blended family. Amy thankfully returned to her ''gospel roots'' in 2002 and released an album called ''Legacy, Hymns & Faith'' her first hymns project. Thankfully she has since remained in the Contemporary Christian music world since 2002 and has never gone back. She's released more albums such as ''Simple Things'', (released 2003) ''Rock Of Ages Hymns And Faith'', (released 2005) ''Somewhere Down The Road'', (released 2010) ''How Mercy Looks From Here'', (released 2013) ''Tennessee Christmas'', (released 2016) and ''The Me That Remains'' released this year. Since Amy has returned back to the Contemporary Christian music industry she has faced more challenges. She's faced condemnation from Christians due to her divorce and remarriage, her dealing with depression, her getting rebaptized, and even questioning God's love. She also dealt with her parents getting older to the point her mom died and went to heaven in 2011 and her dad later died in 2018 went to heaven and such. She's also dealt with the challenges of blending a family and has stated while she's happy in her marriage to Vince Gill, it took her three kids (Matthew, Millie, and Sarah) from her previous marriage awhile to accept him though they like him now. (She also has gained many grandkids causing her to enjoy being a grandmother too.) Amy has also dealt with heart issues and had to have surgery in 2020 and she suffered a biking accident in 2022 and cancelled touring for a good while in the midst of that. Amy Grant has had her fair share of challenges physically, loss of her parents, blended family, judgmental Christians, and suffered from depression. But through it all Amy has leaned on God,her family, and music that's helped her work through various challenges. Amy has also gone to counseling to help her work through various challenges and believes one should not be ashamed to go to counseling when a person needs help. Amy has dealt with the challenges of the spotlight but by the grace of God she's handled that with grace, humility, and dignity. That's what I wanted to share with you ladies. I want y'all to know all throughout the rest of this month I'll be sharing stories about people who dealt with the challenges of mental and physical health and by the grace of God they've overcome it. Blessings to each of you ladies, happy Lord's day, and have a blessed week everyone.










