Gospel singer says God showed her ‘grace’ and ‘kindness’ during unplanned pregnancy

Grammy-winning gospel singer Naomi Raine, a member of Maverick City Music, was recently interviewed by Christian rapper Lecrae about her life and career, during which she opened up about her unexpected pregnancy and the life-affirming message she wants her daughter to remember.

Key Takeaways:

• Gospel singer Naomi Raine told Lecrae that though she was raised in a solid Christian home, she became sexually active with a young man in her church and got pregnant. She was the only one, however, who received consequences from church leadership.

• She relied on God to get her through the difficult time without anger or bitterness, and her parents showed her love and support.

• She says her daughter is a blessing from God, despite Raine’s sinful choices, and evidence of God’s grace and kindness.

The Backstory:

Raine told Lecrae that her parents were genuine Christians who “lived it out” and worked as worship leaders in Brooklyn. The parents of her friends, however, were “one way in church and another way at home.” She said:

Some of my dearest memories are the moments where my parents would apologize to us where they would say, ‘Hey, this is not how things should be done.’ Or ‘This is what biblical womanhood looks like, or biblical manhood looks like.’ They really sat with us during dinner. We did Bible studies. That’s the kind of childhood I had. We grew up in the faith.

She explained that her childhood was sheltered — then she entered middle school and became interested in boys who were not living God-honoring lives.

“We went to church and then my boyfriend lived across the projects from my church,” she recalled. “And so I used to do a lot of walking across the street to hang out and watch him smoke cigarettes. Like, I don’t want no part of it, but I just want to watch you do that and live my little secret life.”

Raine eventually realized she was a talented singer, and was feeling led to devote that talent to God.

“I started on the worship team in junior high at my church. And I think that’s where I met my mentor. His name is Ben Harney,” she said. “He’s a Tony Award winner. He was in ‘Dreamgirls.’ He played Curtis. He’s everything. And he really taught me about God. And there’s one thing that he would always say. He’s like, ‘You know, we don’t worship God. We worship God.'”

Naomi Raine Reveals the Truth About the “Old” Maverick City to Lecrae

But her small rebellions later ended up turning into a big one when she became sexually active with her new boyfriend — a member of her church. Raine became unexpectedly pregnant.

The Details:

Raine and Lecrae noted how in their churches’ cultures, there were levels of sin, where some were overlooked and others were seen as the worst of the worst. An out-of-wedlock pregnancy was definitely one of the worst for them. “Pregnant. That’s number one,” she laughed. “That’s the worst sin.”

In her case, the congregation simply pretended it wasn’t happening.

“Because of the type of church I went to, I think everything was very under the carpet,” she explained. “Everything was, OK, we’re going to kind of act like this is not happening. And I think some of that is done to protect you. But then also it’s kind of like a prolonged trauma, because people are finding out for three years.”

Meanwhile, the father of her baby — a Christian rapper at her church — didn’t receive any consequences or scoldings from church leadership. But Raine did.

Instead of getting angry or bitter, she leaned on two things to help her through it: God and music. “There was a song that the Lord had me write when I was pregnant, and it was called Blessing in Raine, and with an ‘E’ because I’m Naomi Raine,” she said. “But it was basically like, you know, this is hard. This is bad. But there’s a blessing in here.”

And once her daughter was born, she truly saw the blessing.

“She is like God’s grace personified to me, that he can do something good out of my mistakes, my bad situation, even when things were not fair between me and my baby daddy,” she said, adding, “I feel like the Lord was teaching me then, OK, this sucks. This is not good, but I can still be good. And that’s literally how I got through it.”

God Will Work It Out (feat. Naomi Raine & Israel Houghton) | Maverick City Music | TRIBL

READ: Grammy-winning rapper Lecrae, John Piper, and John Ensor talk about abortion remorse and healing

Her parents also helped her get through the pregnancy with loving support. “When I told my parents that I was pregnant, that’s probably the hardest day of my life,” she said. But her father surprised her with his reaction:

I remember my dad, he just was like, ‘Do you have clothes? How are your clothes fitting?’ I thought my dad was going to kill me. Do you understand? Like literally slap me and my head roll off and just roll down the street, and then I don’t have to worry about being pregnant anymore. Nobody has to find out because I’m dead.

My dad looks at me and instead of yelling, instead of screaming, instead he goes, ‘How are your clothes fitting? Let’s go to the mall tomorrow and get you some new clothes.’

The Bottom Line:

Today, Raine is a Gospel singer and worship leader who has won multiple Grammy awards. And while she acknowledges that she could have made better choices, she also said her daughter is not a mistake.

“I never want my daughter to feel like she’s a mistake. She’s not the mistake,” she said. “I made a bad choice, but the Lord blessed me with you. I want her to know, this was an opportunity for me to see God’s grace and His kindness.”

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