Hannah Kerr, famed singer/songwriter of 'Warrior' (below) and 'Ordinary,' is anything but ordinary. She wears her faith on her sleave, trusts God with her whole heart, and uses the gifts God's given her by encouraging young women all over the globe. She has shared the stage with major Christian artists including Casting Crowns, Matt Maher, Building 429, Jordan Feliz, Jonny Diaz, Matt Hammitt, as well as for KING & COUNTRY, Newsboys, and Kari Jobe (WOWOWOW)!

With millions of YouTube listens and songs on the radio worldwide, Hannah is a glorious champion of faith, sharing the love, hope, and goodness of life with Jesus, even amidst COVID-19.

Let's hear Hannah's story below (while jamming out to her hits, obvi)! ❤︎

Two Weddings & A Baby

by Hannah Kerr

I’ve been thinking often about how I’ll look back on 2020 when it’s over. It feels like the past five months have lasted five years, and yet there’s still a lot more of 2020 left to live. When I reflect sometime down the road on what it was like to live through this current time of uncertainty, I want to look back and remember how faithful God was even when so many things I had counted on let me down. I know that is true now, five years from now, and will be true for the rest of my life. God is faithful. He can be trusted. In fact, to sum up the past five months and probably the rest of 2020, my word would have to be trust. 

2020 has been quite an unexpected journey for everyone in the world, and my story is no different. On January 1st, my whole family excitedly looked at each other and said, “Two weddings and a baby!!” My oldest brother was getting married in February, I was getting married in March, and my middle brother and his wife were expecting their first baby in July. 2020 was shaping up to be the biggest and best year my family had ever had! In many ways, it has been, but we had no idea how different life was going to look six months from that New Year’s Day. My brother Josh and my new sister-in-law, Taylor, luckily squeezed their wedding in right before the coronavirus hit. Their wedding was beautiful, and family and friends came from all over the country to celebrate.

When someone hears that you’re planning a wedding, there are always those realists who say, “Expect that something WILL go wrong on your wedding day! It will still be beautiful—don’t worry if it’s not perfect.” I appreciated those realists. However, I didn’t think my “thing that went wrong” would be a global pandemic outbreak preventing groups of more than ten people from gathering in one place! Truly crazy. As the weeks leading up to our wedding passed by, the state of the world and the country got worse and worse. It became clearer each day that my dream wedding was simply not going to happen. There was disbelief, a lot of tears, and frantic planning going on that made the whole three weeks feel like a whirlwind. During those weeks, I kept feeling a tug in my spirit to slow down and listen to God. When I decided to do that the week before the wedding, everything changed.

I finally sat down and turned my attention to Jesus, and His comfort and wisdom shifted my entire perspective on my wedding. I felt His voice whisper to my spirit: “Trust Me.” I knew that this wedding was out of my hands, and I really had no other option than to trust the Lord. I’m so glad I did. He reminded me of the truth about weddings—the wedding is about the marriage and about God, the One who created it. It’s about making a covenant with the person you love and with God to serve Him and become more like Him. Two people unite to form a beautiful picture of the gospel and the way Christ loves the Church; He gives Himself up for her and loves her unconditionally.

If the marriage was the only thing accomplished on my wedding day, that would be enough. I didn’t need a party; I just wanted to marry my best friend. So, my fiancé, now husband, Jason and I decided to get married no matter what. Spoiler alert: we did get married on March 29th, 2020 in the presence of our immediate families and our minister. It was perfect! God allowed it to be one of the holiest and most beautiful days of my life. There was so much peace in my heart all day long, and Jason and I both feel like it was even better than the big wedding ever could have been!

Although it could be easy to look back on the first half of 2020 and dwell on what couldn’t or didn’t happen, it is so much better to focus on the all the blessings that have happened. Jason and I are now newlyweds living in a four-month-quarantine that feels like a honeymoon and loving every second of it! This unexpected and restful time has allowed us to form such a strong foundation for our marriage. This time together has only reinforced what I already believed about knowing that someone is “the one”—you have to marry someone who makes you laugh and turns their eyes upon Jesus in any season. That person is the one who will add life to your days and help to make you a better “you,” even in quarantine!

Jason and I have also spent so much time with our family and soaked up each moment of rest. After being on the road and in college for the past five years, this long Sabbath period has come as a perfect gift from God. Our new niece, Brinley, was born healthy and beautiful on July 1st to my brother Michael and his wife, Colleen. We’ve gotten to see Brinley and hold her often in the past few weeks, and her tiny face is such a perfect reminder of God’s blessings and His love for us. He gives us new life just when we need it most. I’ve also been able to lead worship at my church almost every week, which is something I’ve always loved doing. I’ve also learned how to cook! (This is a big deal because before getting married I truly knew how to make scrambled eggs and that’s about it.)

There are more blessings to share from 2020 than I can even list, but it’s so clear to me that trusting God with this season and every other season is so worth it.

In my faith journey, I’ve seen over and over again how God is truly faithful to His people. He never abandons us or leaves us on our own to figure things out. When life is crazy and nothing goes as planned, it can be tempting to panic and try to fix it yourself. But maybe we can flip our perspective and see 2020 for what it is: an invitation. I believe this uncertain time is an invitation to slow down and really listen to the voice of God. This is a time to lean in and be still; to remember that His plan is ultimately the one that will prosper anyway, so we can rest in Him.

Although I don’t know what’s specifically next for me, I know that I’m creating music that I’m really excited about, and I’m looking forward to being back out on the road as soon as it’s safe. In the meantime, I’m going to soak in this uncertain time and fix my eyes on Jesus—the One I can trust in any season, even 2020.