We were lucky to catch up with Myshel Wilkins recently and have shared our conversation below.
Alright, Myshel thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
My love for singing started as a young girl traveling with my missionary father to various foreign countries. We mostly served the beautiful people of South America. I would sing and lead worship at many ministries in various countries. When I saw the power of music transcend culture and language. When I witnessed how music can penetrate the heart and be a vehicle to administer healing, I knew that I wanted to do this for the rest of my life. When God breaths on a gift, it can empower, uplift, rejuvenate and inject hope into a broken soul. What a beautiful thing. I don’t take the gift lightly and I look forward to sharing it with others whenever possible.
Myshel, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
I’ve got to be totally honest with you. Although traveling with my dad on the mission field completley rocked my world and gave me a deeper understanding of God’s grace and love and I was able to SEE the God I had only read about in Sunday school, After graduating from Tennessee State University, I worked as a background vocalist for several Christian Contemporary Music(CCM) artists. For 6 years, I toured with Mandisa, TobyMac, Matthew West and Don Moen, to name a few. Although these were great opportunities, to be honest, my heart began to change from the little girl who focused solely on the beauty of the Lord during worship, to hoping someone would notice me and sign me to a record deal. I began to love the applause, the perks and the praise. I wanted God to make me famous but disguised that desire by praying a more noble-sounding request of “Lord, send me to the nations”. Although I looked as if I was worshiping the Lord on stage, my motives were a mess. After much time in prayer, I understood that the Lord did not need another famous artist dropping another chart-topping record. He longed for me to love the people He put me in front of. You see, I wanted the people to love me but had no intentions of loving them back. This revelation wrecked me! It was so ugly and so true! I repented for my self-centered motives and asked Him to break down my walls of fear that prevented me from loving people. Soon after, my time on the road comes to an end and I was asked to join the staff of a new church pastored by Cece(Winans)-Love and Alvin Love in Nashville TN. The Lord used this opportunity to answer my prayer of learning how to love people. I had to roll up my sleeves and immerse myself in the ministry of people! Soon, I was celebrating people’s victories, weeping with the grieving, supporting and mentoring many who were needing to know God cared about them. Today, one of my biggest thrills is watching God transform a life! Now, when I stand before an audience, I go back that little girl worshiping in a hot South American church with, no air conditioner, fancy lights, smoke machine or sound system. This time, it’s for an audience of one. I know that I am called to be an atmosphere changer through speaking and worship!
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
One of the hardest lessons I had to learn during my time in the music industry was that. Even when you’ve helped others and supported their vision and dream, it’s not always reciprocated. I had a very unhealthy expectation that as I helped and supported others, they would do the same to me. I was heartbroken when that didn’t happen. So much so that I began to think that my gift was not good enough. Not worthy of being supported. I went through a pitiful season of second-guessing my passion, call and purpose. Am I enough? Is my gift good enough? I began to realize that when you are surrounded by people who do exactly what you do, they want you to be good, just not better than them. When that is the position of the hearts that surround you, real, true and authentic relationships cannot thrive. Roots cannot grow deep in any relationship with that mindset. I was crushed and honestly needed some time to heal. I long for real authentic relationships that inspire one another to dream bigger, do better and reach the highest of heights in what your heart longs to do. That is what healthy relationships look like. For a season, I realized that I did not have that and it was causing my musical self-esteem to plummet. Shortly after realizing this, we moved to TX. After about two years of being out of that environment, I began to refocus on why I sing in the first place. It was clear that I had gotten caught up in needing people to affirm my gift and tell me I was good instead of me walking in the confidence of what God had already made clear to me as a young girl. Of course, I am worthy! Of course, my gift is good enough! Of course, God will use me for His glory but I kept getting hung up on people’s approval. Apparently, I wanted to prove I was relevant and successful in the eyes of my peers but I got lost in the superficial and was drowning in it. Thank God for new seasons. After two years of deep reflection and honest prayer that corrected my perspective and brought healing, I began to write again, dream again, create again and believe that it was time to release a new record.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
At the end of the day, I had to admit my insecurities and wrong perspectives, had to be confronted and locate the root cause of it, be brutally honest with myself and allow real lasting healing to take place. Was it uncomfortable? Yep! But I knew that if I did allow God to gently escort me through the hard truths, those things would continue to be a distraction for me forcing me to keep looking at myself instead of in the Face of the Lord while singing and worshiping in front of an audience. The power of worship is who you are focusing on. If your focus is do I look good, is my hair perfect, hope they like my outfit, did I hit every note right, was my run muddy, will someone notice me? All those things become a distraction and water down the power of what could happen in the room for others. But when you are lost in the presence of God and it’s just you singing to him in a room full of people, miraculous things begin to happen. The atmosphere becomes conducive to emotional, mental and physical miracles. Believe me, I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I never want to get in the way of that. I want the fullest potential of every opportunity to present itself FULL BLOWN when I get the opportunity to stand before people and release my gift. I’m still learning and growing in this but honesty and accountability are what keep me honest! I have people around me who love me enough to tell me the truth, deeply root for me and support me like i”ve never been supported before. I am grateful for these precious gifts in my life.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.myshelwilkins.com
- Instagram: myshelmusic
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/myshel.wilkins
- Linkedin: Myshel Wilkins
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/Myshelwilkins/videos