Leader of the multi-faceted Valerie Smith & Liberty Pike, Valerie was facing one of the biggest challenges of her career: vocal troubles. Over the next year and a half, she would undergo two major invasive surgeries and nightmarish side effects from her medications. “This entire process has been more a journey than a revelation,” she says today. “I want other singers to know it’s okay to have problems checked out. You can pick yourself up and keep going.”

For many years, Valerie’s vocal problems were misdiagnosed as asthma. “I would get respiratory infections and have trouble breathing, so I visited a doctor in 2005 to see what might be the matter. Going into our Germany tour that year, I knew I was going to need surgery when I returned. My throat felt like it was on fire. It hurt so badly to sing. I did a two-song set and had to hand the rest of the show over to the band. I was so afraid the promoters and fans would be angry.” The experience was devastating on a personal level. “There was this sense of losing control. I wasn’t feeling well and I experienced a lot of depression,” she admits.

As painful as it was, the experience was a turning point for Valerie--the catalyst that forced her to get help. “You train to grow as an artist, and it’s hard to realize it all might be taken away,” she says.

It was also the moment she realized the need to stop leaning on her own devices and start leaning on faith. “I was scared. I called my preacher in tears from that tour in Germany, and explained to him what I was feeling. His response to me was, ‘Valerie, I don’t think you have much of a choice. It’s time to step back and let God take center stage and have faith.’”

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