How 52-Year-Old Country Singer Jo Dee Messina’s Music Changed After Battling Cancer About 70% Of Cancer Patients Turn to Faith

"There are people that [I] see in the industry, [who say things like] 'She's so different, what is it?' Jesus. It's Jesus. So we get a chance to sing about that tonight," Messina said to Taste of Country in an interview.

“I do everything for the glory of God, so if I’m out here, it’s like, ‘Thank you Lord for the opportunity to give you glory,’ because he touched my heart and my life and changed who I am,” she added.

Messina gained significant success in the country music seen in the 90s and early 00s. One of Messina's biggest hits, "Heads Carolina, Tails California," helped thrust her up the music charts. According to Opry, she had "nine number-one hits and 16 Top 40 songs and was honored by the ACM Awards, CMA Awards, and Grammy Awards."

However, the mother of two revealed in 2017 that she was diagnosed with cancer, and she underwent treatment that fall. While the singer didn't reveal many details about the cancer, she made clear then, too, that God was helping her through.

“On her lowest of low days, she has been able to see God’s hand at work and feel His love as she continues her walk. It is because of our Father’s love that she has been able to find the beauty in the days that could have brought her the most fear, gratitude in moments that most would call unfair, and companionship during times she might feel the loneliest,” her team wrote on Facebook.

Several months after her diagnosis, her team updated fans on social media that she was "feeling well" and was working on new music.

"In the midst of health, personal life, and financial struggles, at a time when she felt as though the waves were crashing down around her, Jo Dee's heart was moved to focus on the enormity of God," her team wrote in a social media post.

Some of her new music includes "He Got Ahold Me," which is a collaboration between Messina and Christian artist Ben Fuller.

Messina says she found her voice through faith, and it’s inspired many of her latest songs for an upcoming album she's hoping to release later this year, according to an interview she had with American Song Writer.

Turning From Cancer to Faith

Turning to faith can help keep spirits high in the face of adversity, just as Jo Dee Messina has shown. Having faith is something SurvivorNet experts also say helps cancer patients during their cancer journeys.

A study published in Cancer includes data that found "69% of cancer patients reported praying for their health" compared to "only 45% of the general U.S. population."

Cancer psychologist Dr. Andrew Kneier helped co-author "Coping with Cancer: Ten Steps toward Emotional Well-Being." He also co-authored a column published by Stanford Medicine with Rabbi Jeffery M. Silberman, director of spiritual care at Danbury Hospital in Connecticut.

The two add more context to the impact faith has on cancer patients.

"A person's faith or spirituality provides a means for coping with illness and reaching a deeper kind of inner healing," Kneier and Silberman said.

"Coping means different things to different people: it can involve finding answers to the questions that illness raises, it can mean seeking comfort for the fears and pain that illness brings, and it can mean learning how to find a sense of direction at a time of illness. Religious teachings can help a person cope in all of these dimensions," Kneier and Silberman continued.

WATCH: Turning to Faith During a Cancer Journey.

New York City Presbyterian Pastor Tom Evans previously spoke with SurvivorNet about the importance of finding ways to cope with the complex web of feelings you may be experiencing after a challenging health diagnosis, such as cancer.

"It's important to reach out in a simple prayer to God, even if you've never prayed before, you don't know what to say, a heartfelt plea, 'God, help me, be with me,'" Pastor Evans told SurvivorNet.

"You can reach out to God, and you can reach out to people, your friends and, family, and say, 'I can't do this on my own. I need you.' "It's in that willingness to be open and to receive that we can find something deeper that we never would've encountered without this hardship," Evans continued.

How Other Cancer Survivors Used Faith Along Their Journey

Alicia Jones is a two-time breast cancer survivor and an ovarian cancer survivor. To help her cope with her diagnosis, she leaned on her support system and faith to get her through the ups and downs of cancer.

Jones received her first diagnosis after she felt a lump in her right breast. Three years after discovering the first lump, she noticed a different lump in her left breast and was diagnosed with breast cancer a second time.

After recovering and returning to work, she was once again diagnosed this time with ovarian cancer after a visit to the gynecologist. When Jones visited her doctor, she discovered she had a 20-centimeter mass on her ovary, which she was told was "the size of a six-month pregnant woman."

"I’m here to tell you that you can beat it," she told SurvivorNet in an interview.

"I beat it three times. I kept saying, God must have a higher purpose for me because, um, he didn’t take me outta here. So there must be other things that are left for me to do or to accomplish," Jones continued.

WATCH: Three-time cancer survivor shares how her faith helped her during cancer battle.

Sharonda Vincent of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, also battled breast cancer. Just a day before she turned 30, and a month before her wedding, she discovered a lump in her left breast. As the daughter of a minister and a deacon, she turned to her faith in God to help her cope.

"One night I was just laying there in bed. And I had a talk with God. And I knew that if I just put my faith and trust in God, that I would be OK," Vincent told SurvivorNet.

Her treatment included chemotherapy, radiation, and then hormone replacement. After cancer treatment, Vincent said she was doing well.

WATCH: Breast cancer survivor shares how she leaned on her faith to cope during treatment.

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