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Then I remember Phil [Stacey] confronting me at some point, saying, "Dude, you're kind of turning into a jerk. I love you man, but you need to get your head out of the sand." And that was before the Top 24 even started. So I started wondering, "Do I want to be the kind of guy everybody talks about as being a jerk? Or do I want to be the guy that people remember for being a great friend with the production staff and other contestants?" It was this big paradigm shift for me. I wasn't a jerk for very long, but I'd say that it was a good couple of weeks that my head kind of grew. And I already have a big head, anyway … with lots of hair, so it was not pretty at all. I really thank Phil for confronting me that way.

Mandisa I got a little like that too. I'll never forget the articles saying that it would be me and Chris Daughtry in the Top 2. Then my ninth place finish happened, and I'm so very thankful for it, mostly for humility's sake. I needed to experience that. I do not want to get inflated and full of myself. God has called me to exalt him and I dare not ever touch his glory. I feel like that's a lesson that I learned that I'll take with me for the rest of my life.

I'll never forget the day that I was eliminated. We gathered as we always do, and Elliot [Yamin] goes, "Mandisa, we're going to pray, right?" I usually led in prayer, but instead I said, "OK, you wanna pray for us?" He was a little scared to do it, but we gathered around and he led us in prayer. Less than 30 minutes later, we were standing on the stage in the Bottom 3 together. And I'll never forget holding his hand as Ryan [Seacrest] was getting ready to announce who was going to get eliminated. I was thinking to myself, "Aw, it was really great that Elliot got to say the prayer right before being eliminated." And that's when my name was announced.

I know now that my time on the show was not about me winning a title. It was to show the light of the Lord. Yeah, I would've loved to have gone further, but I look back now and I know that it happened for a reason. The flak that I got from singing "Shackles" was horrible when I went through it, but I [now] feel it was all for a purpose.

Sligh To follow that up, I had never been in the Bottom 3 until the week that I went home at tenth place, but Phil had been in the Bottom 3 most every week [yet made it to the Top 6]. Now I look at that for Phil's sake, realizing that nobody had pegged Phil as a country artist until Top 7 week. If I had not gone home when I did, Phil probably would've gone home instead, and he wouldn't have had the opportunity for a country music career that he has now. I went home tenth and God was good enough to let me. So I've learned that God's timing is way better than my timing. I would've loved to have stayed longer, and to be honest, when I went home, I thought nothing would come of it. But the very next morning, I had phone calls and e-mails from 11 record labels. God's way is better.

Stacey I'm also glad I got eliminated when I did because it was just enough to get me a recording contract that allows me to do exactly what I want to do. My idea is not to just minister to a Christian audience. My goal is to reach people who don't dial in to a Christian station or go to church on a Sunday morning, sharing the message of Jesus Christ with them.

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