Dolly’s prayer routine

Dolly Parton, the philanthropist and country singer shared how she has a tendency to be up and around by 3 a.m. and claims that during these early hours she gets some of her best work done. She points out that she's a very spiritual person and God takes center stage as soon as she wakes up. She claims: ‘Every single day, before I do anything, I wake up and I thank God for the night and ask him to bless the day and to bring all the wrong people out of my life, and bring all the right stuff in. And just to guide me, lead me. And I always pray that he’ll let me uplift mankind and glorify Him.’ The10-times Grammy Award winner also turns to Scripture before starting with the more practical parts of the day, which included making sure her husband of more than five decades, Carl Dean, has a cooked breakfast. However, in true Parton style, she shares how she wears her high heels while she's in the kitchen - partly so that she can reach the cupboards!

It's incredible to think how her energy levels continued so high for so many decades. She does most of her best spiritual work, some of her best writing, and some of her business work—call-ins and letters — between 3 am and 7 am.’ I get more work done during that little period of time when the world is calm, energies are down, and I just feel like a farmer. They say the early bird gets the worm. Well, they also get a lot of good ideas too.’ It's incredible to think how her energy levels continued so high for so many decades. "Well, I’m energized by just what I do. It’s like, work begets work, energy begets energy. I just really stay alive because I just live on creative and spiritual energy. I’m just recharged by the excitement of being able to still be active and to still be able to create stuff and to be still in demand."  She was principally a songwriter — her publishing catalogue contains more than 3,000 songs. She told stories in her songs, stories of faith and friendship in the face of adversity, told with a certain femininity, both delicate and determined. Dolly’s ease in sharing her faith made her especially popular with Christian audiences. Dolly says: ‘Most songwriters have a zone that they go into. I call it my spiritual zone. I feel like I am closest to God when I write. … A great line will come to me, and I’ll go, ‘Hey, thank you, Lord. I know that I didn’t think of that.’ Parton was often in the news for her philanthropic work, yet it's always refreshing to see a star, especially one so admired, share her love of God for all to see.