A Christian radio host and CCM artist is opening up about her spiritual journey, saying she was an atheist until six years when she set out to disprove God but ended up having a dramatic conversion to faith.
Olivia Lane is a morning host on The Message, a Christian station on SiriusXM (Channel 63), and also a CCM singer who is known for songs such as Woman at the Well and I Believe It Now, a collaboration with Sidewalk Prophets.
Years ago, though, she was a singer in Nashville who was searching for fame and didn’t believe God existed.
“I've been in Nashville for about 10 years, and mostly doing country music,” Lane told Christian Headlines. “And in 2017, I started losing my voice because I was on the road, I wasn't taking care of myself, I wasn't a believer. I just had all these big questions start coming up, like: ‘What's my purpose in life?’ And so I decided to go to therapy -- regular therapy to heal my mind and then vocal therapy to heal my voice.”
Lane didn’t realize it at the time, but both women -- her therapist and her vocal coach -- were Christians.
“So they started really loving on me during my healing journey. About a year into therapy, my therapist basically said to me, ‘If you want more healing, you need to figure out a spiritual life.’ And of course, as an atheist, I did not want to do that. But I eventually swallowed my pride. Part of me was like, ‘I'm gonna set out to maybe disprove this for myself.’ But I also was open. I was like, ‘Okay, if it's real, let's figure it out.’”
The next four months, Lane woke up every morning and prayed, “God, if You're real, you will reveal Yourself to me.”
“I was kind of praying before I even knew what the word ‘praying’ meant -- just asking boldly.”
God answered her prayer on April 29, 2018, she said.
“I was sitting in my living room, reading this book called Walking with God by John Eldredge. And then all of a sudden, I felt like all my feelings were being felt at once, and I sensed a presence in the room. And I looked up, and I saw Jesus with His arms outstretched as a shadow silhouette against my window. And in that moment, I knew.”
When she began her spiritual journey, Lane said, she didn’t know anything about prayer. She didn’t know what the Holy Spirit was.
“I knew nothing,” she said. “But Jesus appeared. So I was texting my therapist: ‘I think I'm having a panic attack.’ And she said, ‘No, no, you were just in the presence of the Holy Spirit for the first time.’”
Lane became a morning host on The Message last summer. She’s working on a new album.
“It'll be a completely faith-based record -- my very first one.”
Image credit: ©Getty Images / Rick Diamond / Staff
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
