 Life is not always easy, and we as Christians will sometimes suffer, but with God, he will lead you through your journey from pain to praise. Known for their unique style that blends tight family harmony with their acoustic instruments, grand old opera members, the Isaacs, Lily, Ben, Sonia, and Becky, have encouraged millions through their own trials, faith, and music. For Becky, the past year has been a whirlwind, surviving an automobile accident that took her off the stage after starting her solo project. Those songs pulled her through the tough times that hit number four on the Billboard Bluegrass chart. This is her story. This is today's Nashville. This is faith. Becky, it is so good to see you again. I am so glad you were able to sit down with me to share some what's been going on in your life. What's been happening? A lot. I've been following. It's been a crazy year. It has been a crazy year. But before we get into that, I want to go back in your life. You're part of the famous Isaacs. What was it like growing up Isaacs? Well, you know, I'm the baby of the three siblings that sing. It's interesting because my siblings from birth knew they wanted to be in music, but I was the oddball. I was the one that really wanted to be in the medical field, and I ran from music. It did not come as natural to me, or the desire did not come as natural to me as it did to them. So I always compared myself to them because it came easier for them, and I always struggled deep down inside, did God call me or did my dad call me? Because from the moment we were born, we could sing three-part harmony. As soon as he discovered I could play the guitar, he put one in my hand. And so ... How old were you then? I started singing, honestly, about three, our first recordings. I was about three, and we did our first trio record when I was about seven. But we sang on records when I was five and six, and I started playing guitar at eleven. Yeah. Guitar at eleven. Did you just do it when it's a family thing? Did you take lessons, or did you just pick it up and start? A little bit of both. The harmony came very natural, but the guitar, although I could feel it and understand it, my dad would show us the chords and help us through it, and fellow musicians that were in the Isaacs would pass the baton and show us things. When it was our time to step up, they were very supportive. Our guitar player quit when I was about eleven, and my dad had seen me play about two or three chords, and he put the guitar in my hand, and he said the next weekend, it's all me. And so I'd been playing a few chords behind the stage and off the side of the stage with a mic, and there was a lot of pressure. But that's the way my dad rolled back then, and it kind of put us in a place where we are today, where it takes a lot to catch us off guard, because when you grow up doing it in all kinds of situations and scenarios, you just find a way to make it work. Were you in Nashville at the time, or where did you grow up? We grew up in Ohio, a little town called Maro, Ohio. It was about thirty minutes from Cincinnati, Ohio. And in nineteen and ninety-two, we moved to Tennessee because our music had started to take off so much that we needed to be closer, but we were in the Knoxville area, and then slowly we moved to Nashville. So did you spend your teenage years in Knoxville or? Yes, I was seventeen when we moved to East Tennessee. My senior year, I had to move. So it was a tough year, it was a tough year, but so part of my teenage years was in Ohio, and then the rest of them were in East Tennessee. So from there, seventeen, were you still thinking about medical school, or the medical field, or did you know that maybe this was the path that God was leading you down? It was always in my mind. I wanted to go to nursing school, and about nineteen and ninety-two, we had our first number one song, and at that time, you know, it was about sixteen. And by that time, our music started to take off, and it just wasn't possible for me to do both. And so I went to cosmetology school, so I would have something to fall back on should music not be friendly to us, and we couldn't make a living at it. By the time I was sixteen, my family was very dependent upon me and what I did in the group, so it wasn't easy to not, I wasn't the one to be rebellious and kick against it, but eventually in time, I realized that God called me and it's working all for good. How did you get to Nashville? I went through Crohn's Disease, a severe case of Crohn's Disease for about ten years when I was in my twenties up until 2011. And I was on about twenty different medications to stay alive. I had a very rare form of Crohn's Disease because it wasn't just my colon, my small bowel, my large bowel, but I had started to develop ulcers in the colon and I had a severe skin and eye condition where I could not take a shower for two or three days at a time because my skin burnt so badly. And my eyes were really red all the time, painful, and the doctor said that I would probably go blind in both of my eyes. So I was on twenty medications spiraling downward, chemotherapy, humera injections. I was on a hundred milligrams steroids for years. Did they even, did they know what it was causing it? They actually were treating the symptoms and not able to give me a diagnosis until I went to the Mayo Clinic and then they then diagnosed me as Crohn's Disease, but I had such a rare case of it. It was really even then questionable if that was the proper diagnosis, but in 2011, February 22nd, I walked into a holistic clinic in Nashville, Tennessee called Internal Balance and it began to change my life because we began to detox bacteria and parasitic exposure and as all of those toxins came out of my body, I began to heal and quickly the Crohn's just completely got better and then eventually the skin and the eyes got better and so I was coming to Nashville once a week on top of our three and four day schedule in East Tennessee so it was getting really hard to come once a week to do the detox process. So in 2012, we decided it was time to come here to Nashville where my brother and my sister already were living here and recording made it easier and being here for the holistic treatments and so it's been almost eleven years now and I'm 100% free of all those medications that used to keep me alive. I'm no longer considered a Crohn's patient, so God has done miraculous things in my life this far. Now, were you married at this time? Yes, ma'am. I was married and I had two children. At diagnosis with the Crohn's Disease, my daughter was newborn and my son was four. So about those ten years, I was very, very sick. There were days I couldn't get out of bed and take care of my children and we were traveling that time probably 230 days a year and I would be the first on the bus to bed and the last to get out of bed and I just was very, very sick. But the public did not know about it. I didn't make it known until God began to heal me unorthodox way in an unorthodox way at internal balance and then I began to share with people and it made a lot of sense to them because I was always so shy and usually kept my distance because I was so unhealthy. You know, I remember talking to you previously and you were talking about your anxiety and being the youngest and having your family when you went on stage. Tell me a little bit about that. Well, being on all those medicines, especially steroids, you know, I was on 60 milligram steroids every day for three years and you talk to somebody that has taken just a pack and how anxious they were. So a lot of that just made me so jittery and anxious that when I would walk on stage, I thought I was gonna crawl out of my skin. I was so nervous and I was always looking for the exit signs like how can I get out of here because I'm scared and you know, I'd be up at two or three in the morning scrubbing the floor because I can't sleep. So it became a battle of the mind, the process of overcoming the fear and anxiety that comes along with being sick and also struggling with your calling. Well, you know what? God has taken you down a completely different path with your anxiety. I love what he is doing now and we're gonna talk about it when we come back. Becky, as you think back of where you started from and the growth and the path that God has led you down and your family, the Isaacs, from your perspective, can you share just that path and when the doors and everything that you've been through with your music, with the Isaacs? Well, I think somewhere along the way you grow up a lot. You know, you go to counseling, you read a lot of self-help books, you dig in the word of God and somewhere along the way you decide that the greatest failure is not trying at all. Not trying and not succeeding is, I'd rather try and not succeed than to allow my anxiety and fear to keep me from trying at all. I remember one specific time we were going to the Ryman to perform and for some reason that day I was so anxious about everything. The whole way, the whole drive to the Ryman, I kept saying, I'm trying and that is the greatest accomplishment is the victory comes with trying, not with failing. I'm not sure I'm saying that correctly. The victory comes with trying but it's bigger failure just to stay at home and not do it at all. Am I making sense? Yes, yes you are. And so I remember thinking if I fall flat on my face, there's still victory in trying. And it was a mindset that I started building into and I remember hearing Joyce Myers speak and she was talking about how that she had a friend that was terrified of flying and terrified of this and that and she lived in fear and she said to her, so what's the worst thing that can happen? And she said, just do it afraid but don't not do it at all. So I found myself, you know what? I'm just gonna do it afraid. If I'm afraid, I'm still gonna do it. And so you plow through those life changing situations and next thing you know, you've raised the bar of what you're afraid of next and then so the worst thing you can do is stay at home and not do anything. Tell me about your relationship with Jesus. It's grown and grown and grown and through every tragedy God has shown me through triumph, he speaks my love language. I think people underestimate God and they compare themselves to other people. Well, God didn't do that for me so I'm not as close to the Lord as they are. But that's not true. The Lord speaks your love language. You have to seek him and you will find him and the Lord speaks to me in threes. He always has. The first time my mind will be like, oh, cool. And then the second time I'm like, hmm. And then the third time I no longer can say it was a coincidence. I know it was the Lord trying to show me and then I find peace in it. During the pandemic, there was this little red bird that would sit on my front deck under the pillar. And I remember coming home the night that the Isaac's dates were all canceled and I thought, God, what are we gonna do and how are we gonna survive and how are we gonna pay our bills when we've been canceled for the year? And this sweet little bird would be there every morning, red bird, and every night. But through the day, it would go about its business. And I'd look out my window and he was there and I said, okay, I can go to sleep now. And I'd wake up in the morning and sure enough, it was there until I saw it. And then it would fly away and do its business and come back. And it was there for 30 days. And the day that the bird flew away, I was devastated. It was kind of just like my sign from God. And I remember walking away from the door crying and I said, Lord, you sent that bird for me. You knew that was my love language. And I said, would you please send me another sign? And that night I went to bed and I just randomly opened my Bible. And when I randomly opened my Bible, $40 just flew out of it. And I panicked and I said, oh my goodness, where did this come from? And my husband was sound asleep and I said, John. And he said, what? And I said, did you put $40 in my Bible? And he said, what are you talking about? He said, I'm asleep. And I was like, wake up. Did you put $40 in my Bible? He said, why would I do that? Have you touched my Bible? No. Go back to sleep, okay? And so I'm like, I can't go to sleep. There's $40 in my Bible. And when I began to read it was where the widow woman had a son and the prophet said for her to take all of the vases and go out and fill them with oil and the tax collectors would not come for her or her son. And she was able to sell all of the oil and take care of her family during her need. And God began to just deal in my spirit and say, the tax collectors aren't gonna come for you. Don't worry, I sent you a bird and if I love the birds, how much more do I love you if I take care of them? And during that pandemic, 40 kept popping up. There were $400 worth of groceries on my deck. Just random things, $40 worth of groceries were paid for. And so God just gives you, he will speak your love language if you ask and you seek, you will find. You will, 40 days in the wilderness. 40 is a powerful number in the Bible. It sure is. You know, you talked about your anxiety and always wanting to be with the group, but God took your anxiety and you did a solo album. Tell me about it. I did, I've had no desire in my life to be a soloist. I've always told my family that. But we were in the studio, I believe it was 2018 and I had done background vocals on another session and the guitar player there said, oh, you would sound so great singing that song. And I'm like, oh, I would never do that. He said, you should do it on your next solo record. And I said, I've never made a solo record and I'm not interested in it. And I said, but if I ever did, I wanna feature my guitar heroes because I play guitar with the Isaacs. And so he heard me but didn't say a word and the session goes late that night, we all go to eat. And as soon as we were eating, finished, he pulls up his tab and he looks over the tab and he'd been texting and he said, I'm gonna be at your brother's studio April such and such date at 11 o'clock, don't stand me up. And I said, for what? He said, we're starting your solo record. And I was like, oh my goodness, I have two weeks. And so I thought, I don't have time to write the material and the Isaacs have sang songs that I have been part of writing our whole career. It's very easy to see the transparency of our writing because we write about our experiences. But immediately I started realizing the part that people do not know about me are songs I go to when I need encouraging. And so over the three years, it was a process of getting my guitar heroes in and then my friends coming in and singing along with me. And that record was released October of 2022. Songs that get you through the storms. Songs that pulled me through the tough times. And little did I know he was getting ready to pull me through the toughest times in my life. The toughest times in your life. I followed that and we're gonna talk about that when we get back. Becky, this past year has been one of your toughest years, tell me about it. So in October of 2022, I finally released this record that took three years to make and featuring my friends like Dolly Parton, Vince Gill, Alison Kraus. My friends and guitar player and heroes. And it was out about five weeks when we go into the Christmas season of the Isaacs. And on December 15th, we were in the middle of our Christmas tour and was home. And I decided before bus call that night at 10 o'clock that I was going to go to the store and get a couple of Christmas presents for some fellow bandmates. And on my way to the store, a gentleman, an 81-year-old man crosses the traffic and hits me head on. And he passed away. But the wreck was, it was very scary. I was cognitive the whole time and I knew what was gonna happen. I had a choice to make, did I want to go into the ditch and him T-bone mean flip me and I probably would not have made it or just stay the course and be hit head on. And that's what I chose to do and the police said it saved my life. He was going over 55 and I was able to slow down to 40. So there was about a 90-mile impact, a 90-mile an hour impact. And unfortunately the dashboard hits me at the knees and pins my legs in and breaks both of my legs. Both of my tibia bones were broken and three ribs. And I come to in the car and first of all the first reaction is, oh my goodness, I'm alive. And the second reaction is I look over into the passenger seat and remember at the last minute my daughter had decided to meet me. She was gonna drive separate and meet me there. And I just began to weep and cry and thank Jesus. And then the shock comes in and I'm trying to get out of the car. And I was able to get the door open about six inches but all of the smoke and everything was happening and I thought the car was gonna catch on fire so I started to hyperventilate. And these two ladies are able to come to the car in a gentleman and at the point of them opening the door I start to get out and I realize I'm severely injured. And so I just said to them, I'm injured but do what you have to do and get me out of this car. And they were able to set me down on the road and move me to the side but immediately the EMT workers went to the other gentleman trying to save his life. And at that point I was able to get the left like a little bit straightened without severe pain but I had to inch this right leg which was completely just dislocated and severed. And long story short I have a plate and nine screws in the right leg and I have a meniscus tear which we're working through right now but I was eight weeks in a wheelchair absolutely no weight bearing all of the- It was touch and go. I remember following you and the updates that everybody was posting on social media. It was a scary time. I mean you really don't know what each day holds and you know when the doctors come in he originally had said that it was eight to 12 weeks with no walking at all. And I was devastated because this is over Christmas the holidays and then March 9th was our first day on tour with Reba McIntyre and I was so determined to be on that tour. And so he said to me, he said if you can do this without pain medication he said you'll heal a lot quicker and so from the day I was in the hospital until the day I've not taken any pain medication and I began rehabbing I went seven and a half weeks with no walking I would pivot with my wrists and my body to get from side to side. And in and out of bed they would lift me and those kind of things and then February 1st I began to stand for the first time which was almost eight weeks and then February 2nd I began to walk February 3rd I put the walker away by the end of that weekend I put the wheelchair away and on day eight I told my husband get rid of all the medical equipment I don't want it in the house and I began to walk and it's been physical therapy they prepared me I'm in for a year of physical therapy and before I can completely heal And you're still in physical therapy now? Yeah I'm doing different forms of physical therapy until the end of the year I'm not on campus now but the tibia bones are your weight bearing bones and so I need those bones to heal really well for me to be able to stand and perform for two hours and so it's a process I'm not quite able to do that yet but we're working on it. I remember seeing on the internet the night you went back to the grand old opry was it and you performed for the first time? That's right. Amazing. February 19th I invited all of the hospital the workers the PT everybody to come and watch me walk out on stage for the first time of course I had to sit and perform but I was able to walk on that stage and it was such a surreal moment a victory moment of what seemed impossible but you know God began to deal with me in the day I was in the hospital for 18 days trauma and rehab and I come home from the hospital and I'm like okay this is emotional this is physical this is mental and it's equally as much spiritual and I had never broke a bone in my body and so I thought okay I've got to when you can't walk and you go from being independent to where you're never alone you can't even go to the bathroom by yourself. Boy it's humbling and I begin to Google how many times I've never broken a bone but how many times are bones mentioned in the Bible and it's mentioned 45 times and I said okay Lord what are you saying about bones and it led me to a merry heart I do with good like a medicine but a sorrowful spirit drives the bones and the more you study about bones every time bones are mentioned in the Bible it is talking about the spirit man and when your bones become so fragile you become a skeleton and when you become the skeleton of a person you no longer have that spirit man alive in you and so God was clearly saying you've got to nurture your spirit man a merry heart how do I find a merry heart when my world's upside down and the more that I would read the word of God the more that he would pour that into me and I began to write Ezekiel 37 on my leg braces we began to prophesy hear the word of the Lord bones come to life and I wasn't only prophesying over these legs to live and these bones but my spirit man God how can I, how can I I'm gonna come out of this wheelchair but how do I help somebody who'll never come out of a wheelchair how do I tell them to live hear the word of the Lord and God just began to download so many things about your spirit man and if you nurture that spirit man then everything else comes into alignment the Bible says that you know seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these other things will be added into you and if we could just get busy in our state of crisis in our state of need seeking the kingdom of God and his righteousness then he will provide everything we need to get through it and I never understood when someone would say I had the grace to go through it until I went through the lowest point in my life and then I realized he gave me grace to endure it my family was like how are you doing this you're not crying you're not sad and all I can say is when you God allows you to go through something he will give you the grace to bear that cross he won't give someone else that grace he gives it to you where is God taking you now oh I don't know I don't know cause I'm still in the process I'm scared to write a book about it cause I don't know how it's gonna end it just seems like God keeps evolving in my life and I don't wanna prematurely tell people where God is landing me because I don't wanna miss the journey and put myself in a place that I'm not supposed to be I'm just living life at its fullest right now and so thankful that he has given me the opportunity to live to see what God has in store I don't know I have no goals but to just be fulfilling in what he's calling me to do and I will say this before I go in the hospital so many of my artist friends came to see me and I'm in the hospital over Christmas and all this and they would walk in with Christmas bells on and singing and I would cry and cry and cry and up until this wreck I kinda cursed music I remember I said I didn't know if my dad called me or if God called me I've always been on the giving end of music if someone was in need the Isaacs went and sang we've stood by bedside's funerals we've given our lives to help people but it wasn't until this wreck that I was on the receiving end of music and it was the music that healed my soul and I realized that God called me because of the importance of what it did for me it healed me and God allowed the very thing that I cursed to be the thing now you know you're true calling right Becky thank you we love your family we just thank you thank you for being on the show my friend like Becky says Jeremiah 29 13 says you will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart seek the Lord today this is today's Nashville this is faith cornerstone television wishes to thank all our faithful viewers whose consistent prayers and financial support have made this program possible