Hard things prepare Jamie MacDonald to share new music, life lessons

Singer performing in Hamburg

By Joshua Maloni

GM/Managing Editor

It’s fitting that, in a week where Buffalonians are thinking about space travel, they’ll also give heed to singer Jamie MacDonald – who performs Wednesday at Revive Wesleyan Church.

You see, when President John F. Kennedy famously spoke of exploring the stars, in 1962, he said, “We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”

Though his speech would take place two-plus decades before MacDonald was born, it aptly conveys her living situation after the first two-plus decades of her life.

A former church camper, MacDonald had left school, split from her family, and was staring drug abuse and homelessness in the face.

Though Kennedy wasn’t considering MacDonald when he offered those words, she knew someone who was thinking about her when he offered up something greater – his life – and maybe he could right her ship – if it wasn’t too late.

“One of the big things for me – and I think it's the same for a lot of people that struggle with homelessness – is I just believed so many lies about myself; and so, for years, it just caused me to spiral mentally, make poor choices, put myself in really bad situations based on how I saw myself. And so, after giving my life to Christ at 21 years old, I just really dove into the word, and I had to really retrain my mind to believe the truth and not all those lies,” MacDonald said Monday.

Jamie MacDonald (Photo credit: Mary Caroline Russell // courtesy of Shore Fire Media)

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The Michigan native left the West Coast and headed to the Midwest. She began to sing and perform in public – something frowned upon by her stepfather and a factor in her falter. Now, starting to be surrounded by a support system, MacDonald began to gain some traction – first with song placements in notable places like “The Rookie,” Oprah’s “Queen Sugar” and ESPN’s college football programming.

But as she began to be noticed by the music industry, MacDonald again had to choose the hard thing.

Right around the time the world would shut down for a pandemic, she opted to remain in the background – singing backup for notable Christian artists Anne Wilson, Danny Gokey and Zach Williams – as she nobly cared for her ailing biological father.

MacDonald’s peers didn’t forget her, however, and she was given another chance to become a full-time performer.

Just as American astronauts made it to the moon, MacDonald has made it to the top of the charts. Her 2024 single, “Desperate,” in which MacDonald confesses a need for help from Heaven to “redeem this wreckage, restore my peace,” spent seven weeks atop the Christian music charts. MacDonald would rerecord the song as a duet with Lauren Daigle.

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Jamie MacDonald (Photo courtesy of Shore Fire Media)

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On the heels of that success, MacDonald released her debut eponymous album in January, led by single “Left It In The River,” which held the No. 1 spot for 10 consecutive weeks across major radio formats including Billboard and Mediabase Christian adult contemporary.

Here, MacDonald boldly proclaims, “I had burdens on my shoulders all my life // I tried and tried to leave 'em all behind // But freedom’s one thing I could never find // I said a prayer from the banks of a river // God met me there, showing me something better // My life was changed // When I stepped into the water // Ain’t seen my chains // Since I gave ‘em to the Father // Hallelujah, I've been delivered // Where is my guilt? // Whеre is my shame? //I left it in thе river, (River), oh // I left it in the river, (River), oh // Now, there’s nothing that can take this joy I've found // He raised me up and I ain't coming down // He washed me clean and now there ain’t no doubt // He turned it all around.”

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Having become an award-winning artist – named to both “Spotify’s 2026 Artists To Watch” and “Amazon Music’s 2026 Artists To Watch,” and touring with the likes of Tauren Wells and Phil Wickham – MacDonald is grateful to be in a better place … but still aware of the hard work that remains.

“I mean, even to this day, I'm putting on audio Bible and YouTube scripture stuff, and I just let it wash over me every single day, because I'm prone to hearing the wrong voice that says, ‘You're not good enough and you're never going to be good enough. You've caused too big of a mess to do anything good with your life,’ ” she said. “I think that's the problem, is our mind is a battlefield. And if we're not intentional about what thoughts are going through our minds, and what voice we're listening to, I think we just stay in the same cycles.

“And so, for me, that's how I got out of the cycle, is just confessing the truth, speaking the word of God out loud over me.”

Jamie MacDonald (Photo credit: Mary Caroline Russell // courtesy of Shore Fire Media)

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MacDonald’s success and newfound platform has brought its own hard things, but she said these challenges are good ones. MacDonald now uses her testimony – painful as it might be at times – to help others in need.

“There's certain songs of mine that I'll save for a certain part of my set where I'm more calm,” she said. “ ‘My family’ song – the one that's all about God restoring my family – that one's still really, really fresh, and there's still a lot of unresolved hurts in my family; and so, that one's really, really hard to sing live.

“If I had a choice where, I guess, if there wasn't souls telling me how this song is reaching them, I would probably not want to do that one live, just because it is an emotional ride for me, and it's something that can really throw me off. It's just something that still hurts. But, I'm just hearing so many people connect to it and saying that God is helping them believe for the restoration of their families. And so, I'm doing it more so like in obedience, and I'm seeing fruit from that. So, it's a joy to get to do it, but it is also painful at times.”

MacDonald said getting up on stage is “fun, and I don't struggle anymore.”

“I think, for so many years, I was listening to the enemy's voice, and it caused me to just live almost half of my life in shame,” she said. “And so, it's just learning that new place with (God) that's safe; and I'm walking in my calling, and I'm seeing fruit, and I'm seeing souls coming into the kingdom through telling my testimony and sharing my songs. And so, now I'm starting to really feel all that. And I'm just grateful; and I'm just kind of pinching myself that I get to keep doing this for years to come.”

MacDonald recently wrapped her first headlining tour. She said an Easter break was “beautiful, because I'm finally over the part where this all feels kind of scary and just like, ‘Are you sure I can do this?’ Because some of it – just going from doing no shows to playing big arenas – I mean, it's the miracle only that (God) has me up there, because I really struggle with fear and not feeling like I'm good enough. In a lot of ways, just carrying shame and stuff from my past.

“And so, I just think of all that I have been able to overcome, and it's really because of all that (Jesus) overcame. He says that we will overcome. And so, it's just been cool to see – in his strength – all the things I was able to do that I didn't think I could do.”

Jamie MacDonald will share the stage with Tauren Wells inside Revive Wesleyan Church, 4999 McKinley Parkway, Hamburg. The Kingdom Bound Ministries-sponsored event is set for 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, April 8. Visit https://www.kingdombound.org.

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