Anne Wilson leaned on her faith to tell the story that helped her heal through “My Jesus.”
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In June 2017, tragedy struck the Wilson family when her older brother, Jacob, died in a car accident at the age of 23. The singer was only 15 at the time when she was faced with a crossroads.
“I remember this gut feeling of, ‘I’m going to make a decision right now, I’m either going to trust God or do this all on my own,’” Wilson recalls to American Songwriter about the gut-wrenching moment when the police came to their house to deliver the devastating news. “It’s hard trusting God in moments like that, and it was really hard for me. I knew in my heart that I have to trust God or I’m not going to survive this tragedy, and I think my family felt the same way.”
Wilson remembers a particular moment when she turned around to face the doors of the room where her parents were talking with the police and surrendered herself to a higher power.
“I remember in that moment I needed to do that and when I did that, I felt like this weight lifted off my shoulders, but I could breathe a little bit lighter and I felt like it’s going to be okay, I’m going to get through it, God has a plan for all of this,” she continues. “That obviously kept me going and kept me from giving up…and that eventually led to us writing ‘My Jesus.’”
After her brother’s passing, Wilson found that she was journaling in a more “intentional way,” chronicling the specific details of the day and how she was feeling. She started noticing that the journal entries were more like prayers, consistently referring to God as “my Jesus.” The writing process later found her in the room with her co-writers, fellow Christian singer Matthew West and Jeff Pardo, the three talking about loss and all the emotions that come with it.
“I think when you lose someone you love, it’s very helpless,” the Kentucky native describes. “You feel like you can’t even take your next breath, and that’s how I felt. I felt very devastated. I really wanted to give up on my life and just wanted to go be with my brother. But I knew at the end of the day that God was going to work it all together for good, and it was what got me through the loss.”
During the conversation, the lyrics started pouring out, as Wilson sings about a burden that’s too heavy to carry, feelings of emptiness and longing for healing. His love is strong and His grace is free/And the good news is I know that He/Can do for you what He’s done for me/Let me tell you ’bout my Jesus/And let my Jesus change your life, she sings triumphantly in the chorus.
The lyrics are as much an invitation as they are a proclamation of her faith and the doors she felt open for her following the tragedy. Growing up in Lexington, Kentucky, Wilson had aspirations of being an astronaut, so much so that she and her parents visited NASA when she was in eighth grade and intended on going to college to one day be an astronaut. But everything changed when her brother passed, setting her path toward a new purpose.
“What was special about it was when my brother died, that’s when God started to really open doors for me in music,” she observes. “So with my story, I didn’t have to wait for years upon years for good things to happen, it was immediately.”
Wilson released “My Jesus” as her debut single in 2021 and it quickly became her breakthrough hit, ascending to No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs and Christian Airplay charts. Her debut album of the same name also hit No. 1 on the Top Christian Albums chart in 2022. The follow-up singles “Sunday Sermons” and “Hey Girl” reached No. 5 and No. 26 on the Hot Christian Songs chart, respectively, solidifying her as Christian music’s newest star.
In April 2023, she released the one-year anniversary deluxe edition that included a live recording of her performing “My Jesus” in her hometown. “It was so special, I really loved getting to do that,” she raves of the performance at Rupp Arena. “I really think getting to sing it in your hometown is always really special. It’s one of those things that is very surreal. You look around and see family and friends that you grew up with and I’m now doing this as a career, so a lot of those types of feelings.”
She recently released “Seventh of June” to commemorate the day her brother passed away and filmed the video on her family’s farm in Kentucky, as well as at her brother’s gravesite. It marks her first Christian country song as she works to forge a path in country music and prepares to release more new music with the hope that it will continue to touch people’s hearts.
“I knew it was really special and I had no idea that it was going to do what it has done and be such a big song,” the 21-year-old remarks of “My Jesus.” “But it really came from the place of losing my brother and knowing that God can make a way out of all the things that are really hard in life and work them all together for good like he’s done in my life.
“It’s been so amazing to see that song impact so many people, it’s surreal for me…I just pray that people feel like they can deal with their grief a little bit easier and that they can find faith in these songs because that’s my end goal.”
Photo Credit: Laney Oakes/Courtesy of OH Creative
