Hope can seem downright foolish in light of trying personal experiences and excruciating losses like these, not to mention the steady stream of testimonies to suffering around the globe delivered by news reporters and social media. The secret that Owens shares with her listeners in these songs is how she can continue to cling to hope with a white-knuckled grip even when doing so defies reason and when faith is under siege.
Says Owens, “The singer-songwriter in me knows life is intense. It just is, a lot of the time. I find that as I talk to people at shows, their lives parallel that. They want to tell me their stories of tragedy. And a lot of times those stories end with, ‘This song of yours really helped me get through that.’ I want to speak into the midst of people’s pain, or whatever they’re going through, as best I can.”
“I don’t feel like I’m here to save the world,” she clarifies. “My goals aren’t that lofty. But I feel like life is about us living in each other’s stories, and our stories intertwining. My role is to be an encourager through music.”
For Owens, just singing about making a difference wouldn’t be sufficient—she actually gets her hands dirty. Since the mid-aughts, she has been very active in charitable work, with her nonprofit The Fingerprint Initiative (launched in 2005) tackling international needs and partnering with local organizations to stock food pantries and build affordable housing. “I feel like I’ve laid my heart out there on the line and said, ‘Here are the things that are important to me,’” she says. “So now I have to live that out beyond the music.”
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