Twenty nine years ago, a woman who looks exactly like me gave birth to a healthy baby girl in Pacoima, California. She brought her home to the San Fernando Valley where she began the first years of her life. (Yes!! you guessed it! It’s me!)
Anyway, I spent my days as a young child finding any way to get my clothes as dirty as possible. I would play outside until my mom would drag me in kicking and screaming. One day, confined to the indoors, I decided to jump off the couch, flip over it, and land on my bottom. Terrified, my parents decided that if I was going to be jumping and flipping off of things, they should let me learn how to do it right. Into gymnastics I went. I had found my purpose in life. I genuinely believed that if I tried hard enough, I could fly. (Most good gymnasts believe this :o). For about six years, my life was consumed with flipping, tumbling, vaulting, balancing, stretching and saluting, and I loved it! During this time, my Mom MADE me take piano lessons. (Remember the kicking and screaming part? It applies here as well.) I remember hating it so much that I would dream about taking a screw driver and plucking out all the piano keys one by one. (I’m not a psycho, I just wanted to be outside!) Anyway, when I was eleven years old, my parents prayed that God would show me his will for my life. Within two weeks, I decided on my own to quit gymnastics, and pursue music. It was simple, supernatural and my heart was filled with a desire for music. I sat down at the piano and wrote my first song. I remember feeling the Spirit of God come upon me, and I felt his annointing on me. I knew then that music was my calling.
Years went by, and I became extremely involved in school and sports. I was captain of the cheerleading and softball team, and continued writing music and singing in church, at school and anywhere they’d let me!
A couple of years after graduating high school, I moved to New York city to run a youth center in the lower east side of Manhattan. It was one of the most significant experiences of my life. (I’ll never forget taking the Subway by myself for the first time….woo hoo I’m all grown up now!!) During my time there, I led worship in church, ran the center, and helped with the youth group. It was awesome, but God was calling me back to California.
Once at home, I received a call from an old family friend (now our manager, Norman Milller) about a group he wanted to put together. You know the rest of THAT story. Anyway, about three and a half to four years into the ZOEgirl thing, our drummer Mike asked me out on a date. (wait a minute…..that’s how HE tells it, but here’s how I tell it…….. he he) Mike and I have known each other for about five years now. We have toured together and worked together for as long as I’ve been in ZOEgirl. For years, we toured and played music together, but neither one of us had any romantic feelings. A while back, God changed all that. (Here comes the good part.) Anyway, one day, we were flying to Texas to play the “Celebrate Freedom” festival for the KLTY radio station. There were tons of artists there, and Mike was playing in the house band. (He played for 14 artists, and had to learn over 60 songs!…He’s so smart…..) The girls and I had to wake up early, and catch a flight that we ended up missing, and almost didn’t make it to the festival! When I got there, I was ushered up to the stage because our performance time had just about arrived. When I walked up on stage, the heavens opened up, angels sang, and there was Mike…..just looking at me and smiling. I thought to myself ‘why am I so glad to see him???’ That thought was accompanied by all those wonderful feelings we experience when in love…you know, nausea, dizziness and loss of muscle control in the knee area. After the show, he hugged me goodbye, and within two days had asked me out on our first date. On that date, he told me how when I walked up on stage, his feelings for me changed. WOO HOO!!! COME ON! THAT’S A GOOD STORY! God changed our hearts towards each other at the exact same moment. Now he’s my husband, I call him “huban”, and we lived happily ever after….
