Does God Intervene?

This week is Power Week in the Christian Faith and today we are looking at some modern-day examples of how God has intervened in lives and careers that are reminiscent of some things that happened in the Bible.

My wife and I are both big American Idol fans. In season 6, Melinda Dolittle sang her way into the hearts of people everywhere. Here’s a condensed version of her story found in the book, “Chicken Soup for the American Idol Soul”:

“My mom taught me that with God all things are possible if your heart is in the right place. She never dissuaded me from trying anything, even if my success was unlikely. But what I really wanted to do was sing. There was only one problem: I was completely tone deaf. In fact, it was so bad that when I auditioned for the grammar-school choir, they let me in but they asked me just to lip-synch. So there was little Melinda, smack in the middle, singing her heart out. But, in fact, I was lip-synching.

One day I was in a shoe store with my mom. When Whitney Houston came on the music system, everyone stopped and listened. How cool would it be if I could sing like that? I thought. Just grab people's hearts so that they stop and listen to me sing. So I told my mom that since I'm not good at anything else, I would like to be good at singing. She replied, "Baby, you are really going to have to pray very hard."

When we got home, I told her that I was going to sing in the youth talent show at our church, which was one month away. Although my mom was supportive, she was also honest. She told me that would be a great faith project for me. So I prayed, "Lord, I want to be able to sing in the talent show." My mom also told me I would have to practice really, really, really hard.

Every day, I tried to hit those notes, and they wouldn't come out right. My mom kept saying, "You've got to keep working at it. You're not there yet, but just keep trying and praying."The day of the talent show arrived, and I wasn't yet confident that I could sing, but I was confident in the fact that up until then God had always answered my prayers. I saw no reason why he wouldn't this time.

So I strode onto the stage, dressed in my new dress and the shoes I had bought at that shoe store just one month before, and I opened my mouth. Amazingly, out came this beautiful tone! It was like night and day. And not only could I sing, but I could hear harmonies. My mom cried.

After the show, people called the pastor and said, "It wasn't fair to let Melinda lip-synch for the talent show." It was hard for them to believe the pastor when he replied, "She didn't-that was really her."

After that day, I got asked to join the worship team and the all-state choir, and I've been singing ever since.
One of the other things I loved to do was dance. It was something else I did badly, but that never stopped me before. When I was in college, I was practicing a dance number for a school show when my friend's mom walked up to me at rehearsal and said, "I don't know if you even sing, but I looked up at you and I got this message that I have to have you sing background for a recording session we're doing tomorrow. It must be a God thing."

Her name was Roz Thompson, and her husband was Chester Thompson. He'd played with greats like Phil Collins and John Fogerty, and she was not only a well-known worship leader but had sung with everyone from CeCe Winans to Donna Summer. They were recording a tribute to Rich Mullins called My Deliverer.

Roz drove me to the session, where I sang background for one song. When I was done, the producer handed me a check. I said to him, "I only did one song." He said, "I know." And I said, "Are you serious?" It was more money than I made at my part-time job in a month.

From that one session, my phone started ringing, and my career as a background singer began. To me it was just about the best thing in the world-to get paid to sing.

Nearly seven years later, I decided to audition for Idol. Although I'm sure my success story is similar to other's, I think each of us has a different moment when everything changes, when everything comes together. For me, it was the night that Diana Ross was the guest mentor.

Until that night, I still thought of myself as a background singer, even when the judges tried to tell me I was more. But that night, when I sang "Home," and I looked out and everybody was standing on their feet and clapping for me-that was the moment it all came full circle. The lyrics tell about being in a different place, a different time, and a different world-and there I was, little Melinda Doolittle, living the dream that I had in the shoe store so many years ago-the dream of people stopping and wanting to hear what I had to sing. I knew it was now truly a different world.

God had given me a voice when I wanted to sing. It was now up to me to be the best representative of him that I could be. On Diana Ross night, I knew it would never be hard to do. For it was on that night, when the people wouldn't stop clapping and they thought they were clapping for me, I knew the truth-and I will always know the truth-that without God . . . I'm tone deaf.”

How do you explain that? Did a month’s worth of practice turn Melinda Dolittle into an accomplished singer? Or was something or someone else at work here?