Reba McEntire Shares Why She Calls on Holy Spirit Before Performing: ‘Put Me in the Right Place’
Country legend Reba McEntire recently shared that she calls on the Holy Spirit before walking on stage. On an episode of “The Voice,” contestants Donny Van Slee and Josh Sanders, both on McEntire’s team, performed Luke Combs’ “When It Rains, It Pours.” During a behind-the-scenes look at the duo’s rehearsal for the performance, Sanders discussed how the song reminded him of his daughters, causing him to feel “heavy…I don’t want to take the song there.”
McEntire replied, “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.’” The country star often speaks about her Christian faith and how it sees her through hard times. She told Jesus Calling, “I don’t think I could have gotten through all the changes in my life without the Lord. That’s that rock, that’s the fortress that you lean upon when things go wrong, when things go bad.”
In a 2019 interview with The Christian Post, McEntire said her faith influences her work in the music industry. She shared, “It’s all God; He’s the reason for everything I do. 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.”
McEntire continued, “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. Music has allowed me to do wonderful things God intended for the people who are listening.” She also credits her success in entertainment with the moments she spent with her mother and grandmother. She explained, “That’s what my grandmother—Mama’s mother and my namesake—used to say when I was growing up. But she called it a special gift, a gift from God. I was almost as close to her as I was to Mama. Grandma used to take me fishing at a pond in her place.
She added, “We never did catch much, but we liked to throw in our lines and sit on the pond dam while Grandma told stories, mostly from the Bible. She told me about David, Moses and Daniel, and the special gifts that God had given them, like courage and, leadership, and prophecy. In fact, David was a songwriter. I probably learned as much of my Bible going fishing with Grandma as I did in Sunday school. She taught me gospel songs and hymns so I could sing to her.
“‘Reba,’ she’d say, ‘God gives all of us our own special gifts, and he’s given you yours for a reason. Now you have to learn to use it,’” McEntire remembered.
