Some years ago now, while getting ready for yet another ordinary day, a breakfast television interview caught my attention. Lisa Marie Presley was speaking about music, her struggle with addiction, and the memories she carried of her father, Elvis Presley.

Because Lisa Marie was born around the same time as I was, and my own father was born in the same year as Elvis, I found myself suddenly aware of how blessed I have been to still have my father in my life for so long.

I have a vivid memory from childhood. My mum, my younger brother and I had walked to our local shopping centre. My brother and I were standing there waiting for Mum when my eyes fell on a newspaper headline at a kiosk announcing that Elvis Presley had died. I already knew who Elvis was because my older brother was a fan of his.

Since our move to Australia took place only a year later, and because Elvis seemed to be spoken of everywhere at that time, the two events have always remained connected in my mind. Somehow the death of Elvis and our migration to Australia became woven together in my memory.

Lisa Marie had me completely captivated as she spoke. She talked about the darkness she had walked through in life, the pain she had carried, and how faith had become meaningful to her. What moved me most was hearing her speak about her father singing gospel music. She described those memories so vividly, recalling times when she would wake in the night to the sound of his voice filling the house with those songs of faith. She said that was where he seemed most alive, most passionate, and most at peace.

That touched me deeply. It revealed something tender and true about him. For all the fame, noise and spectacle that surrounded Elvis Presley, it seems that gospel music remained the place where his soul could breathe. Beneath the public image and the enormous weight of celebrity, there was still a man who returned again and again to the music of faith, comfort and hope.

Years later, when Lisa Marie recorded a duet with her father on an album celebrating his love of gospel music, I could hardly think of anything more emotional. To sing alongside the voice of a father long gone must have been both beautiful and heartbreaking. Even listening to it as an outsider is enough to stir something deep within me.

There is such loneliness in this world, and there are seasons in life when that loneliness feels sharper than usual. Most of us know what it is to walk through dark places, to feel overwhelmed, to long for comfort, or to wish we could speak to someone we love just one more time. Lisa Marie spoke of that longing for her father, and it was impossible not to feel the ache in it.

Having a father to turn to brings a deep sense of security. I only truly understood that when I nearly lost my own father in 2015. It made me realise how much his presence has meant to me. Yet it has also made me more aware of something else: in the hardest moments of life, I have learned to turn again and again to my Heavenly Father. There is hardly a day that passes when I do not cry out to Him for help in one way or another. And to know that I am heard, that I am not abandoned, and that I do not carry life’s burdens alone, gives me comfort beyond words.

Just as gospel music seemed to sustain Elvis throughout his life, I know that the deep roots of faith have sustained me too. They have carried me through grief, fear, uncertainty and heartache, and I believe they will continue to carry me all the way through whatever still lies ahead.

When Lisa Marie Presley died so young, it was another sobering reminder of how fragile life is. One moment a person is here, and the next they are gone. We all know this, and yet it still takes us by surprise every time. Life is precious, but it is also brief and uncertain.

And so my prayer remains simple. I pray that God would hold my hand, and yours too, through all the joys and sorrows of this life, through every dark valley and every unknown road ahead, until the day we reach the other side. This world is not our final home. Until that day comes, I want my heart to keep singing, to keep trusting, and to keep carrying on with hope.