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The last few years have been full of highs and lows for CeCe Winans. While her 2003 album, Throne Room, went gold, Winans faced a serious health scare that sidelined her for a few months. Earlier this year, the gospel community was stunned by the death of her oldest brother, Ron, a member of the genre-changing group The Winans. Still, Winans has chosen to take her own message to heart by worshiping God through the tough times. In a candid interview heavily peppered with her trademark chuckle, Winans talks about her seventh solo album, Purifed, singing one last song for Ron, and what it's like when a producer calls you "Auntie."

About this time last year, you had emergency surgery. What happened, and how is your health now?

CeCe Winans I went to the doctor, thinking I probably had the flu. I thought he'd give me some medicine and I'd go back home. But when my tests came back, the doctors said, "You've got a stomach infection, and we're going to have to go in now." So, they had to do emergency surgery. They told me I could be in the hospital recovering anywhere from seven days to seven weeks. I was pretty floored, because I was supposed to go out on tour—we ended up postponing the second half of the Throne Room tour until this year. But God is just amazing. I ended up being in the hospital for just a few days, and then I was able to just spend time at home throughout the whole fall and the holiday season, which really ended up being a blessing. I'm thankful for all the prayers God's people prayed for me, 'cause I'm doing great now and have all my strength back. Sometimes the Lord knows how to slow us down. I don't want him to slow me down any more (laughs), but I just took that time to really just soak in his presence and just reflect on his goodness and his mercy. Now, I'm doing great.

That's good to hear. Let's talk about Purified. It has a very different sound from Throne Room, and in some ways sounds more familiar, more like some of your earlier work.

Winans Yeah. It is totally different from Throne Room, which was very vertical. Purified is more horizontal. Throne Room was a CD to encourage people to worship the Father, to focus in on him and only him. Purified is definitely more of an outreach CD. It's going to touch people where they are, no matter where they are, to allow them to be reminded of God's love for them. And there a lot of songs here about relationships.

A lot.

Winans A lot. For example, "I Promise" could be a wedding song; it reminds us what real vows are. I sing a song with my sisters, Angie and Debbie. We wrote a song together to talk about that bond, that relationship, how important it is to be real sisters and to cover one another in prayer. We wanted to say that it's OK to disagree, but we have to learn how to love through the midst of everything. Then we have songs of healing. Boy, do we need to hear that now. Tommy Sims wrote the song "You Will" after September 11, 2001. It's a song reminder that we will heal. We'll cry one less tear every morning—there is still hope. God is there. I really wanted this CD to be about purified love. We talk about love a lot, but many of the things we talk about aren't pure love. Real love is pure and powerful, without any hidden motives. When we work out of that kind of love, it changes others' lives and enriches ours.

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