Joy Williams turned down a record deal at age 14 because she wanted to be a regular high school student. She went on to excel in all areas—academics, sports, student government—and graduated at the top of her class. She probably would have qualified for an Ivy League school, but instead signed with Reunion Records and moved from California to Nashville. What about her education? She's learned aplenty. Read on …

Your last CD, By Surprise, prompts my first question: What's been your biggest surprise in the last two years?

Joy: Too many to count—whether it's moving to Nashville from California on my own or traveling for over 250 days in a year. God surprises me almost daily, revealing things about himself, and about me—like how much I try to white-knuckle my life and how much I need to let go.

What has been the most difficult surprise?

Joy: Balancing relationships with my music career. I've had to learn to get beyond my frustration of just hearing people's voices on a cell phone. I prefer to see people live. I've been really challenged to let go of what I think is a normal life, of what would make me the most comfortable. I understood on a surface level that a music career would really alter the course of my life. But you never know exactly what you're signing up for. It's been a learning experience, but I feel I'm doing what I should be doing.

No regrets?

Joy: No, other than there were moments when I wish I could've slowed down a bit. For a while, I was running like a chicken with my head cut off.

I hear you're not all that comfortable with being in the spotlight.

Joy: True. It's a great privilege, but God can take it away as quickly as he gave it. So I'm always praying I won't do anything displeasing on or off stage. I pray I'll be like a piece of glass through which people can see God more clearly.

What you were like in high school?

Joy: I was happy on the outside. I was accomplished in school and sports and other activities. I was growing in my life with Christ. But I think I was unhappy because I neglected to be real with God. I also felt inadequate in certain areas. I felt uncool. I felt self-conscious. I felt body conscious. I felt boy conscious. Natural growing pains.

But you acted like you had it all together?

Joy: Yeah, I definitely did. I'm a pastor's kid. I knew how to smile even when I felt like crying. I couldn't let myself fail; I felt like I had to be perfect. I was unsure of where my identity was really rooted—if it was rooted in me, or in what I wore or who I hung with. I hadn't rooted myself in the Word, in my identity in Christ.

How have things changed since then?

Joy: My self-esteem has changed from being just an "issue" to a heart issue. It's not just something you talk about or read books on. It's where you ask God to open up your heart and stitch it back up. He had to take out the fallacies of what I rooted my identity in—performance, sports, friends, homecomings.

So that's the old definition of self-esteem. What's the new one?

Joy: One, it's knowing that no matter what I do, I'm never going to be perfect. Two, God loves me unconditionally. Three, because I'm loved unconditionally, I can walk in freedom and grace. Four, I can share that with other people, which gives me identity and confidence and a purpose in this life.

How do those truths move from being just another cliché to becoming reality in your life?

Joy: It takes time, prayer, and accountability. It's not going to be fixed overnight. It took me 20 years to get to this point; hopefully it won't take me that long to get past it! You can't rush the process of asking the Lord for renewed self-esteem, because the process is part of the journey. And accountability has kept me on track.

What kind of accountability?

Joy: Accountability with an older woman, who has a deeper faith walk than I.

You mean a mentor? You had a mentor in high school, right?

Joy: Yes, and she was the spunkiest, most carbonated, wonderfully devoted woman of faith I've ever met. Hillary was a teacher at my school, and she got me really excited about reading the Word, about praying, about asking God to peel away the onion layers of my heart. She challenged my thinking and she challenged my heart.

How did that relationship get started?

Joy: I went to her and said, "I don't want to get stuck in my faith, and I see where you are and where I want to be. You're closer to that goal than I am, so I want to hang with you." So we met often. We went through the One Year Bible together, and then Oswald Chambers's My Utmost for His Highest. And when I graduated from high school, she got married and I moved away. We'd talk on the phone periodically, but it wasn't the same. So, since I've moved to Nashville, I've had another mentor, my pastor's wife at Bethel Church in Brentwood. It's Pastor Tim Johnson's wife LeChelle.

How often do you meet with LeChelle?

Joy: Not often, because I'm on the road so much. But my phone bill proves that we talk a lot!

What should someone look for in a mentor?

Joy: For me, I saw a difference in somebody's life that didn't match mine, and I said, "I want that." Titus 2 instructs older women to teach younger women, and I needed that. A mentor might be at your school, at your church, in your neighborhood. Pray that God will show you somebody, and he will lead you to the right person.

I hear you're a mentor yourself.

Joy: I mentor a 16 year-old girl in my church.

Do you think it's just as important to be a mentor as it is to be mentored?

Joy: Oh yeah.

Why?

Joy: So you can continue with the cycle of encouraging people the way others have poured into you. It would be a shame if I hoarded the knowledge that LeChelle, Hillary, and my parents have given me. We're called to invest in others, and mentoring is part of that. It's an awesome way to have deep, really gut-level relationships.

Do you have to be a spiritual giant to be a good mentor?

Joy: Take it from a person with mustard-seed-sized faith, you don't have to be a spiritual giant. What is required is that we individually are faithful to the Lord, that we are held accountable by somebody, that we are diligent and reading the Word. It doesn't require you to be perfect.

OK, moving on. … What do you worry about at night?

Joy: About not dreaming big enough. About waking up one day and saying, "Oh, if only I had … ." I think I fear failure. I just never want to limit myself or God's plans for my life by saying, "Oh no, that could never happen."

What are you looking forward to?

Joy: Sleep! Seriously, I'm looking forward to walking with people, walking with Christ, and building relationships. I really want to make a huge dent in this world for Christ, to impact culture for Christ.

Joy Williams recently enjoyed her very first number one single on Christian Hit Radio with "Every Moment." For more about Joy, be sure to visit her artist page, where you will also find a review of her latest album, By Surprise. You can listen to song clips and purchase her music at Musicforce.com.

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