TobyMac’s song “Faithfully” and the accompanying official music video describe and depict the artist’s process of grieving and writing about the tremendous personal loss he and his family experienced in October 2019.

Many of us look back at the disappointments and joys over the course of a year as we begin a new one. However, absolutely nothing marks a year forever like a tragedy or the loss of a loved one, particularly a child.

“Faithfully,” included on TobyMac’s August 2022 album Life After Death, deals with the devastation that loss creates in a person’s life as well as the recognition that God is with us through it all. TobyMac experienced that devastation in the worst possible way when his 19-year-old son, Truett Foster McKeehan, died of an accidental drug overdose. 

TobyMac shared with Movieguide, “The truth is, I didn’t know grief, really. I just felt like everything was beautiful and perfect until the last few years. And then, when we lost Truett, everything changed, and I met grief in the fiercest way.” 

Here are the first four lines of “Faithfully:”

It’s been a long year; it almost took me down I swear
Life was so good, I’m not so sure we knew what we had
I’ll never be the same man, I’ll never feel like I felt before
It’s been a hard year, it almost took me down

The video begins as TobyMac sits down to do an interview; he seems to be preparing to share his story of loss. Then, we see him writing and composing in a studio and on what appears to be his tour bus. He writes key phrases and doodles with his Bible nearby, eventually creating the verses and chorus of a song that demonstrates healing—possible only through His quiet, gentle, transformative love.    

The new version of “Faithfully” was released as a single in September 2023. TobyMac wrote in an Instagram post about the new version, “The main difference in the recording is that the bridge is musically more driving and sung an octave higher with more intensity and passion.” The bridge begins at 1:50.  

As the song closes, the singer-songwriter emerges from inside the studio/bus into the sunshine of a new, brighter day. 

As we close out one year, whether it be filled with sorrow and trials or triumph and success, may we do so knowing that God is faithfully there through it all. 

“Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed himself in burlap. He mourned deeply for his son for a long time.” Genesis 37:34