'Having a faith prepared me to deal with life'

Image Credit: Faith Hill

Phoebe Simcock, 21st Sep 2021
Tags: Life Blog

A young child who started singing in Churches becomes a global sensation, and uses this fame to spread the word of God and love. One of the most successful country artists of all time, winner of five Grammy Awards and renowned philanthropist, of course country singer Faith Hill is xRhythms’ inspirational person of this week.  

She performed for a crowd for the first time at the age of seven.

Faith Hill was named Audrey Faith Perry when she was adopted by a Christian family as an infant. She was their blessing, and she was blessed by them as they bought her up as a devout Christian and nurtured her musical talents. She performed for a crowd for the first time at the age of seven and was a regular performer in churches by the time she was a teenager. She intended to pursue her dream as a musician and landed a job working in McDonalds to afford to live. 

She married a publishing executive and was overheard singing by a co-worker. During a performance in a café, an executive from Warner Bros. records talent spotted Hill and signed her for a recording contract.

Faith’s talent and career went from strength to strength, as she toured all over the world and met her current husband and singer Tim McGraw. McGraw and Hill tour together, and have shared an important tradition with CBS News that keeps them strong, “Tim and I share a quick quiet moment together before hitting the stage,” says Hill, “Always praying”. They use prayer as a way to connect before a performance and pray to God for an enjoyable and successful show. 

Although Faith doesn’t get much say in the lyrics for her songs, she connects with a deeply spiritual element in her music, and was inspired by music she heard in church due to a large amount of her childhood spent in a Baptist church.

Having a backbone of spirituality makes me a little stronger.

Faith takes her strength from God, and uses this strength to help others to prosper in life. The Hollowverse quoted Faith as saying, “That’s where my strength comes from. It’s my foundation. I was raised in a Christian home and it prepared me to deal with life on my own . . . Having a backbone of spirituality makes me a little stronger. I pray a lot, and when I first moved to Nashville, that’s what kept me alive. I believed I was being taken care of. I apply it to my life every day”. 

Whilst using her fame to help the lives of others, she used her 1999 tour to support a national children’s book drive, the Faith Hill Family Literacy Project. She also joined groups taking supplies to Hurricane Katrina survivors and organised Nashville rising, a concert to raise money for those affected by the flood in Tennessee.  

Although her talents are undeniable and she deserves her fame, Faith Hill worked a customer service job like many of us and was spotted for showcasing her talent in the right place at the right time. So if you’re in a job that you don’t feel is your career, don’t feel disheartened. 

Famous people started work in customer service before their big break.

Sometimes you have to work to live, but that doesn’t mean that will be your situation forever. Lots of famous people started work in customer service before their big break, that could be you too.