"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pains; it is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."
--C.S. Lewis

Life was good for Matthew West. Having catapulted onto the Christian music scene in 2003 with his debut single, "More" - the most played Christian AC song of 2004 - the multi-Dove Award nominee and sought-after songwriter had enjoyed two critically-acclaimed studio recordings, Happy (2003) and History (2005); been a mainstay at Christian radio with memorable hits like "Only Grace," "History" and "Next Thing You Know"; and toured with such artists as tobyMac and BarlowGirl. But in April of 2007, with a new label home at Sparrow Records, concert dates on the books and plans to hit the studio with a fresh batch of songs for an album he'd already titled Something To Say, Matthew lost his voice.

After one look at his vocal chords, doctors at the Vanderbilt Voice Center immediately put all his plans on hold. They discovered a vascular polyp and hemorrhaged blood vessels on Matthew's vocal chord, making it impossible for him to sing. His doctors were convinced only two courses of treatment would work: complete silence and surgery.

"Everything came to a screeching halt," Matthew says of the diagnosis and the news of surgery. "All of a sudden my calendar was completely cleared. My studio plans were postponed. My life shut down." Even worse, he says, was the frustration of not being able to communicate with his wife, Emily, and 1-year-old daughter, Lulu. "I was armed with a dry erase board, unable to do the little things we take for granted everyday, like talking with my wife, or singing to my little girl before bed."

Watch the complete story in the documentary "Nothing to Say" on tangle.com.

Read more at matthewwest.com.

Watch the music video for THE MOTIONS on youtube.