Country music star and “The Voice” judge, Reba McEntire, recently opened up about how she relies on the Holy Spirit to “put her in the right place” when she performs on stage.
The Grammy Award-winning artist got choked up during NBC’s “The Voice” Monday night after her team members Josh Sanders and Donny Van Slee performed Luke Combs’ “When It Rains, It Pours.”
“Your runs, when you hit the high notes, everything was perfect,” she said of the duo’s performance. “Whatever you got from this song, it was just right.”
But a behind-the-scenes look from the rehearsal for that song showed McEntire giving Sanders and Van Slee some sage advice about including God in their performances.
“‘When it rains, it pours,’ that lyric hits me kinda heavy,” Sanders shared of the upbeat song. “I’m a dad of four girls. We had a son. He was born and passed away on my birthday.”
“It’s such a fun song, and I don’t wanna take it there,” he admitted.
“Before I go on stage, I ask the Holy Spirit to walk for me, talk for me, speak for me, sing for me… Ask him for that: ‘Put me in the right place for this song,'” McEntire shared.
It was a word that the two performers ran with and it showed in their performance, stunning the entire panel.
“Y’all just threw down and I don’t even listen to country music,” Chance the Rapper said. “I might download that song.”
“You guys got what it takes to go far in this show and it was a great song choice for both of you guys,” shared Reba’s fellow coaches, Dan + Shay.
“I feel like I’ve known you forever,” Reba told both singers, overcome with emotion. “I just felt like we bonded, and that was really, really special to me.”
This is not the first time the 68-year-old has spoken about her faith in Jesus.
In 2019, she told the Christian Post that she has relied on the Lord in the highest of highs and lowest of lows.
“The Holy Spirit was left behind to comfort and guide us, and I rely on that strength each and every day,” McEntire told the outlet. “I just pray that the Holy Spirit guides me, speaks for me, helps me down those stairs.”
She adds that her faith has impacted her career and that it was God who has helped her navigate the music industry and be one of the best-selling artists of all time.
“It’s all God; He’s the reason for everything I do,” she said. “I pray that I will find songs to record that will touch people’s hearts and heal their hearts. Before I go on stage, I ask the Holy Spirit to touch people in the audience, if they need healing or comfort.”
“God gave the songwriters that gift, and if there’s something in songs that can come out of my mouth and touch a person and heal their heart, it’s all worth it to me,” McEntire added. “Music has allowed me to do wonderful things God intended for the people who are listening.”
Even when McEntire went through a divorce with her husband of 26 years, Narvel Blackstock, and lost seven members of her band and tour manager in a plane crash, she said she found solace in the Lord’s presence.
“I feel Him all the time, every day,” she said. “God helped me through my divorce. When the plane crash happened, I never was mad at God, never was. People had asked me, ‘Did you get mad at God?’ I didn’t. Everything happens for a reason. In my little minuscule mind, it’s not mine to ask or judge. I’ll ask when I get up there, just to say, ‘How come?'”
“I’m in a great place right now, and my faith got me through all of it,” she added.