More than 25 years after doctors told him he had only five years to live, Grammy-nominated Christian artist and songwriter Tim Timmons is still waking up every morning with a simple prayer: "Jesus, you woke me up again."
The singer, author, and speaker recently sat down with Jim Burns on the HomeWord podcast to discuss his new book, Waking Up Again: A Journey of Grief and Gratitude, offering a deeply personal look into the struggles, losses, and spiritual lessons that have shaped his life.
While many know Timmons as the co-writer of MercyMe's award-winning hit "Even If" and as a central figure in the story behind I Can Only Imagine 2, the artist says the defining story of his life is not music, success, or even cancer.
"Cancer is not my story. That's the worst story I have," Timmons explained. "My story is seeing Jesus at work in the midst of it."
Diagnosed with a rare incurable cancer in his early adulthood, Timmons was initially given five years to live. Decades later, he continues to live with tumors in his liver while maintaining a busy schedule that includes touring, writing, podcasting, and encouraging others through his ministry.
Rather than viewing his diagnosis solely as a tragedy, Timmons says the experience forced him to confront what truly matters.
"The gift of cancer is sobriety," he shared. "It gives you perspective. It helps you understand what actually matters in life."
The book chronicles a lifetime of hardships, including his parents' painful divorce when he was just thirteen years old. What began as what he thought was a family meeting about getting a puppy instead became the moment his childhood changed forever.
His family experienced financial instability, emotional upheaval, and uncertainty in the years that followed. Yet Timmons believes those painful experiences became part of the foundation God used to shape his character.
Throughout the conversation, he repeatedly returned to the theme that God often uses life's most difficult moments to cultivate spiritual growth.
One chapter in the book explores what he calls the reality that "manure happens." Drawing from Jesus' parable of the soils, Timmons argues that some of life's hardest experiences become the very things God uses to soften hardened hearts and produce spiritual fruit.
"The softening agent for hardened soil is manure," he said. "It's the stuff nobody wants. Yet what if God actually uses that to grow something beautiful?"
Perhaps one of the most surprising revelations from the interview was Timmons' admission that he stopped trying to "work for God" years ago.
"I quit working for God 15 years ago," he said. "It's the worst thing I've ever done."
Instead, Timmons says he learned to stop forcing opportunities and began trusting God to open doors in His own timing.
That posture of surrender would eventually lead to opportunities he never could have imagined, including the widespread success of "Even If," a song born out of conversations about suffering, unanswered prayers, and faith.
The song, which went on to become one of MercyMe's biggest hits, emerged from Timmons' growing conviction that biblical hope is not primarily about what God might do, but about who God is.
"My hope isn't that God heals me. My hope isn't that God fixes everything," he explained. "My hope is Jesus alone."
The same philosophy has become the foundation of his popular "10,000 Minutes" movement, which challenges Christians to focus less on the 80 minutes spent in church each week and more on faithfully following Jesus during the other 10,000 minutes of everyday life.
For Timmons, authentic faith is measured not by attendance, knowledge, or religious activity, but by daily obedience, generosity, forgiveness, and a willingness to join God in what He is already doing.
Each morning, he writes a simple "X" on his wrist as a reminder of that commitment.
The mark symbolizes both gratitude and surrender-a declaration that every day is a gift and an opportunity to pay attention to God's presence.
More than two decades after receiving a devastating diagnosis, Timmons says that perspective continues to transform the way he approaches life.
Whether standing on a stage, writing songs, walking with friends, or spending time with family, his focus remains remarkably simple.
"I got another day," he said. "And today is the gift."
Waking Up Again: A Journey of Grief and Gratitude is available now through major booksellers and online retailers.
