Dolly Parton Revealed the Moment She Felt God Had ‘Forsaken’ Her
Dolly Parton has said that God is very important to her life. Parton is a deeply spiritual person, and her faith drives the way she interacts with the world. During an especially difficult period of her life, though, she felt disconnected from God. She shared why she started to feel angry at God.
Dolly Parton felt God was no longer with her during a difficult period
In the 1980s, Parton began dealing with health problems. At the same time, her very close personal and professional relationship with her bandleader, Gregg Perry, ended, and she started dealing with family drama. She began to feel that her world was falling apart, and she had little support through it. She even felt distant from God.
“I had always heard the voice of God guiding me along my way through life,” she wrote in the book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “Now pain and anguish ripped at my heart, fear and doubt clouded my mind. I could not hear him. I wondered if even he had forsaken me. I questioned God. I argued with him.”
She said she’d always felt that God was “carrying” her, but suddenly began to feel as though she was completely alone.
“I prayed, but I could hear no answer,” she wrote, adding, “I asked questions and didn’t even feel they were heard. I cried out in pain from that place deep within us that makes us human.”
Parton said she felt so despondent that she began to understand why people turned to drugs and alcohol.
Dolly Parton said she began to feel closer to God again
Parton said that during this time, she started to feel as though she might actually die. She wanted to read the Bible before this, and she credits this with helping pull her out of her low point.
“I sat down and started with Genesis and read straight through to the end of Revelations,” she wrote. “It must have opened my lines of communication with God again, because somehow I began to get answers. Then, one night, somehow I found peace in my sleep … and when I woke up, it looked like a regular day. The clouds that had been there, mostly in my mind, had cleared up. It became apparent to me that life goes on whether you feel like being a part of it or not.”
She believes she emerged from this dark period as a better, stronger person.
She described her spirituality
While Parton said she has a strong relationship with God, she does not consider herself particularly religious.
“I’m not that religious, but I’m very, very spiritual,” she wrote in the book Dolly Parton, Songteller: My Life in Lyrics. “I grew up in very religious surroundings. I grew up with a Bible background, and I’m glad I did. I know my Bible stories, like the ones I mention in [‘The Master’s Hand’].”
She said she practices her spirituality by praying as often as possible.
