Greg Laurie Calls Lady Gaga ‘Insightful’ As She Practices ‘Gratitude’ Amidst Chronic Pain

Lady Gaga (who real name is Stefani Germanotta) is one of the most decorated music artists. Her pop and glam rock music style has captured a fan base just as varied as her songs. But throughout her experiences of holding sold-out concerts and receiving dozens of awards, Lady Gaga has suffered from chronic pain. She recently opened up about her pain and views on God, and Pastor Greg Laurie was quick to encourage the “insightful” artist.

Gaga explained it was as if God said to her, “I’m going to show you pain, and then you’re going to help other people who are in pain because you’re going to understand.”

Pastor Greg Laurie Affirms and Encourages Lady Gaga As She Looks to God

Gaga grew up in a Catholic family in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York. She attended a private Catholic school as she developed her love of music. She has always played music, and she experienced worldwide success beginning in her 20s. After a diagnosis of fibromyalgia, Gaga began sharing publicly how she suffered from debilitating chronic pain.

Pastor Greg Laurie founded Harvest Church in Riverside, California, and has continued to serve as the senior pastor. Laurie was a part of the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and 1970s (as depicted in the movie “Jesus Revolution”) and has welcomed thousands of people to his church. Recently, Dennis Quaid shared his own testimony at Harvest—mentioning how he returned to his Christian faith after drug addiction and rehab. Laurie loves seeing God transform lives.

After seeing a video of Lady Gaga opening up about her chronic pain and views of God, Laurie wanted to affirm many of the artist’s views and encourage her to continue the journey.

“I consider myself a spiritual, religious woman,” Gaga said. “I don’t go to church every Sunday, but I do pray every day.”

Laurie was glad to describe Gaga “insightful” as she shared about God and she dismissed the concept of karma.

“I think my greatest spiritual awakening, actually, has been quite recent,” Gaga said. “I realize that I have the chronic pain that I have for a reason, and I don’t mean to be like, ‘God gave it to me.’ I also don’t believe in that karma thing where, like, you’re sick because you did something bad.”

Gaga has seen more than just her pain. She sees a purpose in it and incredible fruit from it. “But I do believe that this happened for a reason—all of it. I think I was supposed to go through all of these things,” she said. “I radically accept that they happened, and I think it happened because God was saying to me, ‘I’m going to show you pain, and then you’re going to help other people who are in pain because you’re going to understand.'”

“She believes there’s a purpose in her pain, and she’s practicing gratitude,” Laurie said in agreement with Gaga. “That’s actually biblical. The Bible says in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus.”

Laurie further explained that giving thanks in the midst of hardships “doesn’t mean what I’m going through is good.” Instead, “it means that God is good.”