CCM Magazine: Take us back to the beginning, if you can, of the things brought on, to use on of your quotes, “suffocating inadequacy.” As you were going through all of that, where did you go to find God’s strength? In what ways did He reveal His abundance to you that you may/or perhaps may not have expected?
Natalie Grant: Through the years it manifested itself in different ways—to having an eating disorder which stemmed from a feeling of inadequacy, to postpartum depression which stemmed from a feeling of inadequacy as a mother…so many… But there’s an underlying theme to every one of those, and that’s that feeling of, “I just don’t measure up,” or, that somehow, and especially for me, that feeling of needing to keep up with my appearance. But, I actually did have it all together, when, in fact, underneath I felt like I was crumbling from the pressure of it all.

I can easily say, “Oh, I found my strength in God’s Word…” At different times throughout that process, yes, that was true. But I think it was specifically at a time where the Word of God became real to me in a way like it never had before. I began to see myself in [biblical] characters that I had read about my entire life. From people who doubted and had insecurities… In fact, it seems like the ones that God used the most powerfully were those who had similar struggles to mine.

When you discover that’s actually the way that God does His best work is through our inadequacies, it proves that, “in our weakness His strength is made perfect.” It’s one thing to read that, it’s another thing to begin to experience, “Okay, instead of fighting this weakness—instead of fighting that feeling of inadequacy—embracing it … I’m going to dive in an allow that, just immerse my self in it, knowing that in that I’m going to find the strength of God and it’s going to be greater than my own feeling of inadequacy.”

I think that we have to allow those things to become real to us. I think so often we ask God to do something for us. Like, “God, please help me. God, please do ‘this.’ God, please do ‘that.’” What I’m really discovering is that we have more responsibility [on us] than we want to take—not like a “works-salvation,” I don’t mean that—what I mean is that He’s already done everything He needs to do in order to get us out of the pit. He is still extending His hand, but we have to take a hold of it. We have to take a hold of the hand that’s extended and by faith, believe that what He was says is true. I think that was the turning point for me.

CCM: We recently talked with former By The Tree front man Chuck Denny…
NG: Oh, yeah! He was my campus pastor for a while…

CCM: He went through some very similar struggles and processes. It made me wonder if this kind of “inadequacy” is more prevalent today because we are so bombarded with always having to measure up to looking perfect on social media, etc. Do you think that plays a part of it?
NG: I think it’s a huge part of it, and I think, also, for those of us that are really struggling that are in a full time “ministry capacity,” whether it’s in music or pastoral ministry or those of us who are on a stage where Jesus is our platform, I think it’s a deeper conversation. It wasn’t intentional, but from my own experience, human nature and our flesh can still become a part of it—that desire to succeed and to be good at what we’re doing. Then, you mix that together with ministry—which will never exist together—and eventually that flesh side is going to come crashing down and we are going to realize that we are inadequate because, even though we said, “We are putting our strength and focus in the Lord,” it’s really hard to finally come to the place where you can truthfully admit that.

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