Country singer Jo Dee Messina, known for songs like “Burn” and “Heads Carolina, Tails California,” is being frank about the many struggles she’s faced in recent years: a cancer diagnosis, the breakup of her marriage, a lack of money. As she sees it, she only made it through with the help of her faith, which was fueled by an unexpected encounter.

“If you’ve walked my life in the last five years, it has not been a typical life. Not a lot of it goes out in press, which is great, because a lot of it’s painful, and a lot of it’s hurtful, and a lot of it’s scary,” Messina said, per a PopCulture.com story that she shared on social media. “About five years ago, Jesus Christ walked onto my front porch and argued with me all day long. As real as I'm sitting in this seat, Jesus came to my front porch and he's like, ‘She’s mine.’”

Jo Dee Messina performs at the 2019 CMA Music Festival on June 7 in Nashville. (Photo: Jason Kempin/Getty Images)

Messina said the visit occurred at time when she was “at an all time low.”

“I was trying to sustain a career. I had a lifestyle and a family and everything, all on my own, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t,” the singer said. “I was pulled way too thin and so, I was just standing on my porch one day, and Jesus Christ walked out and said, ‘She’s mine.’ I just knew it, in the middle of that, in the middle of my spirit and my soul, I'm like, ‘That’s Jesus.’”

At the time, Messina said, she knew only the basics about Jesus, such as the stories behind Christmas and Easter, so she asked her neighbor for more information. Eventually, she became so passionate about what she learned that she recorded a cover of the gospel song, “Reckless Love.”

“It doesn’t have a big machine behind it,” Messina said of the song, “but one day, I pray that someone does get that message out, not for me. I spent my entire career, my entire life glorifying myself. It’s time for him. He gets the glory from this point on. When you are going through a hard time in your family situation and you are diagnosed with cancer, and you don’t know what's going to lie around that corner, and you have the arms of Jesus there, holding you. You never want to walk away from it.”

Even before that, back in April 2018, she released the original song “Bigger Than This,” which she penned about God helping her to overcome obstacles. She sings, “My God is bigger than this, his love is greater,” during the chorus.

Messina appears to be doing well for now, as her website features tour dates through November.

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