Country singer-songwriter and actor Stella Parton — the younger sister of Dolly Parton — said she finds comfort in knowing trailblazer and entertainment legend Loretta Lynn, who died Tuesday, was a believer.
“On a personal level, I loved her as a girlfriend, as a sister-friend,” Stella Parton told CBN’s Faithwire. “Women in country music, we realize the journey and we all understand the scope of that. I had such incredible admiration for her — she raised a family, and still, she was out there busting her chops on the road working.”
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The younger Parton went on to describe Lynn, who passed away peacefully at 90 years old, as “one of the best female vocalists I’ve ever heard in country music.”
“No matter what she was going through, her vocals were always spot on,” Parton said. “And how can you not love that?”
The “I Want to Hold You In My Dreams” singer said she’s “not grieving” Lynn’s death because she knows “where” the singer is, since she was a believer in Jesus Christ.
“I’m not grieving anything other than the loss of her,” Parton said. “She’d been sick for a few years, and so we weren’t really able to enjoy her company like we would’ve liked to, but I know where she went. And I think the way she went, in her sleep, was the greatest gift God could’ve given her. Well done, faithful little soldier.”
“She was a faithful little soldier and a sweet, sweet human being,” she added.
Lynn was open over the years about her faith in God, even offering insight into her Christian beliefs as recently as this past spring, in an Instagram post about Easter.
“When I think about Easter, I think about the incredible beauty of real love,” she wrote in April. “Love that gives when it doesn’t have to. Love that gives, even when it doesn’t receive. It’s what Christ did for us. I think of hope and redemption and forgiveness. There aren’t words to share how thankful I am for all God has done for me. ‘The Third Man’ has always been my very favorite gospel song. Happy Easter.”
And even this past Sunday, Lynn posted a Scripture passage to her Instagram account:
As for Parton, she stars in the new Pure Flix film, “Nothing Is Impossible,” which debuts on the faith-based streaming platform beginning Thursday, Oct. 6.
The movie — starring David A.R. White, Nadia Bjorlin, Harry Lennix, and Robert Amaya — chronicles the story of “Scott Beck,” a one-time NBA hopeful-turned-high school janitor who gets a second chance at playing professional basketball and finding love, all while learning to understand God’s plan and purpose for his life.
Parton, who portrays “Ruby” in the movie, described the film as a tale of “hope and redemption.”
“There’s always hope,” she said of those feeling discouraged by life’s circumstances. “Tomorrow is a new day. We don’t stay in the valley forever — there’s always mountaintops and there’s always valleys. So if you’re in the valley right now, just know, God has something really planned on the hilltop for you, something really big. So don’t stay in the valley thinking that’s where you’re going to stay. You’re going to the mountaintop.”
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