In a post promoting the Lent prayer challenge, Stefani said, “Every year, i try to make this time [of Lent] more intentional…this challenge is all about deepening our faith and remembering what Jesus did for us.” Also helping to facilitate Hallow’s Lent challenge are Roumie, actor Mark Wahlberg, actor Chris Pratt, and Fr. Mike Schmitz.
As she described her faith journey, Stefani told prayer challenge participants that she and her brother were not excited about going to the Catholic camp because it was in the middle of summer, and they didn’t know anyone else who would be there. However, “it totally ended up surprising us in a good way,” she said.
At one point during her time at the camp, Stefani said she and a group of about 30 people were outside in a prayer circle.
“During the prayer, I had an experience of seeing myself and the group from above. I couldn’t see my face; I could only see the back of my head,” she said. While she couldn’t “describe it exactly…it was a spiritual experience that I will never forget.”
“It was right after that and hearing the other people in the group’s stories that I felt very connected,” said Stefani, “that this spiritual experience really cemented my faith journey.”
Stefani lived with her family until she was 26 and, during that time, she went to church with them. “But those rhythms that had always served me so well eventually faded out of my life as my music career started growing,” she explained.
The “Don’t Speak” singer left home and grew busy with her career and touring the world. “I was so busy focusing on my career. Faith was still important to me, but it was no longer the central focus of my life, and I fell away from my faith,” said Stefani. “And then came a time in my life where I felt like I was losing everything.”
“Relationships that were painful—I couldn’t function like I wanted to because of what I was going through. Everything was suffering,” Stefani said. “My emotional and my mental stress from my situation quickly turned into physical pain, like a physical illness, chronic pain that prevented me from doing daily, ordinary things, and I was so scared.”
“I was trying everything to find some sort of cure to what I was going through,” she shared. “During this time, I wasn’t as close to God as I wanted to be, and I knew he was calling me back. And it was then my prayer started again.”
“Feeling so desperate, I got on my knees,” said Stefani. “I asked God, ‘Please, please get me well. Please, use my gift of music again. Please, let me be the person I used to be.’”
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