In an issue of CT Magazine, singer-songwriter Kira Fontana shares how she was delivered from a new-age mindset to a life-changing relationship with Christ:

From the outside, my life looked great. I was enjoying a fantastic job as one of the top vocal coaches in Los Angeles. I had worked with major-label and top-40 artists, as well as hit TV shows like The Voice and Glee. Clients regularly flew in from around the world.

Though I had moved to LA to pursue a career creating my own music, somewhere along the way that dream got lost. Throughout this dry time, I managed to find temporary peace and joy through an LA megachurch for “spiritual but not religious” seekers. The church was transdenominational, which appealed to me. I adopted Eastern beliefs about God and practices like meditation.

After almost 20 years of spiritual seeking, I truly believed I had attained higher levels of consciousness than most people. I believed there were many roads to God, and my thoughts were awash with “love and light” and other positive-thinking mantras. However, when I really looked at my life, I knew something was missing.

Around this time, several members of my family became born-again Christians and started talking about Jesus. I remember one of my brothers calling my spiritual center “satanic.” What could be so horrible about channeling love and light, attaining higher consciousness, and finding inner healing?

When my brother asked me, “Who do you think Jesus is?” I answered, “He was a great spiritual teacher, and one of the most enlightened people who ever lived.” He said, “How can you live like Jesus when you have no idea who he really is? You’ve never read the one book that would tell you who he is.”

I spent a solid year praying and reading the Bible. Scripture confronted me with many ideas my new-age mindset simply couldn’t process. As I did this, God began revealing his truth in ways that radically transformed my mind.

In time, I came to see that my most cherished beliefs had all been focused on myself. Even though they were framed in spiritual ways, they were oriented toward self-realization and self-help. But discovering the Bible’s definition of good shattered this confidence. I finally saw that I wasn’t capable of being a good person on my own. And I sensed my need for a Savior.

Meanwhile, God gradually opened my eyes to the reality of evil in the world. But day by day, God revealed to me the real state of the world—pulling back a veil and showing me depths of darkness, I had never fathomed.

I began attending a local church in Santa Monica, asking God to reveal himself and praying he would bring me out of the darkness. I asked a ton of questions, and I read multiple books on apologetics. Eventually, I was ready to finally surrender my life to Christ.

As a new Christian, I prayed that God would show me how to use my musical gifts for the sake of his kingdom. I soon realized I no longer belonged in the secular music industry. The lyrics of most pop songs disturbed me, and I was concerned about the destructive impact these songs were having on young people.

After only a couple of weeks of praying, I felt God clearly call me to leave LA and move to San Diego County. Alone one night in my new home, I felt I had truly reached the end of myself. I cried out to God with a desperation and sadness I had never felt before, asking, “Why did you even make me?” I felt I had completely failed in so many areas of life, including my own music.

That very night, I woke up from a dream at 3 a.m. In the dream I heard an amazing song. I got up, rushed down to the piano, and recorded the chorus for “Refuge.” It was my first worship song. From that day forward, I experienced a complete revival of musical creativity. God was saying, “I made you to worship me.”

Since I put my faith in Christ, God has redeemed everything that was lost in my life. He has freed me from the prison of my selfishness, rescued me from darkness, and brought me into his glorious light. He has given my life new purpose, equipping me to serve his kingdom and glorify his name with music. There is no greater joy.