Christian music artist and former Flyleaf frontwoman Lacey Sturm recently opened up about her painful past, revealing that she was planning to commit suicide when she had a miraculous encounter with God.
"When I was ten-years-old, my cousin, who was about three at the time, was beaten to death by his stepfather," Sturm told Fox News. "My mother always talked to me about God, but at the time I just remember thinking I couldn't reconcile how God could allow something like that to happen."
In her extreme anger against God, Sturm became an atheist, resenting Christians for "lying and pulling the wool over people's eyes."
"I realize now I was actually searching for something that was true. I didn't find anything solid, anybody's faith that I saw from the outside," the 33 year old singer said. "In that moment, the day that I had planned to commit suicide, I realized this encounter with God was so much more real than anything that I'd ever heard from anyone...It was my own experience."
In 2008, Sturm met and married her husband, Joshua, and amicably left the band Flyleaf in 2012 to start a family. She now has two young sons and is working on a solo album which she hopes will "bring glory to God."
Last year, Sturm appeared in a message from Billy Graham which reached millions all over North America, giving her a massive platform to share her powerful story of faith.
"It's everything I cried out to God with in my alone time," she said. "'Use my life for whatever You want, and help me to say yes to your adventures.'"
"When I met Jesus, when I became a Christian, ... I felt the love of God for others in a way I had never felt before," Sturm said. "And to think that God's message could go out in a way that so many people could hear it at the same time, to all of a sudden feel the love of God for each other-it's overwhelming for me."
Sturm's new book, "The Reason: How I Discovered a Life Worth Living," highlights her struggles in life, her journey to faith and hope, and serves as an inspiration to those who are struggling themselves.
"God just rescued me," Sturm said. "All of the blessings that I've seen come out of my life have been from Him just rescuing me. It's not like from I was this great person; I wasn't. I just think it's amazing what He can do with our mess."
