When life throws challenges at us, many rely on faith to guide them, and Dennis Quaid is no exception.

“I’m grateful to still be here, I’m grateful to be alive really every day,” Quaid shared. “It’s important to truly enjoy your ride in life as much as you can because there are plenty of challenges and things trying to bring you down.”

Quaid’s challenges are far from unique.

After a successful start to his career, he struggled with addiction, eventually checking himself into rehab or, as he called it, “cocaine school.”

“I remember going home and having a kind of white light experience where I saw myself either dead, in jail, or losing everything I had,” he recalled. “I didn’t want that.”

The 69-year-old actor and musician explained how those suffering from addiction often seek to “fill a hole inside us.” However, once they break the cycle, something equally satisfying must replace it.

For Quaid, that something was his faith.

He wrote a song for his mother “to let her know I was okay, because I wasn’t okay before then,” and began reading various religious texts, including the Bible and the Quran.

“That’s when I started developing a personal relationship,” he said. “Before that, I didn’t have one, even though I grew up as a Christian.”

Quaid’s relationship with his faith continues today.

He plans to release a new album, Fallen: A Gospel Record For Sinners, which he describes as “self-reflective and self-examining, not churchy.”

“All of us have a relationship with God, whether you’re a Christian or not.”

“We’re all looking for the joy of life, and drugs and alcohol give that to you really quickly. They’re fun at first, then fun with problems, and then just problems after a while. What we’re really looking for is the joy of life, which is our gift, actually, the relationship with God that we all have. It’s the joy of being alive.”