The Eclipse of God
Dr. Erwin Lutzer joins Michael to discuss his most recent book, The Eclipse of God, and the need to return to the Lord.
Ashley is a television personality and host who has booked, produced and covered a wide range of artist interviews, music segments and festivals for AXS TV, ABC.com, WhatsTrending.com, Radio Disney, CMA Awards, American Country Countdown Awards, Warner Music Nashville, GAC and NASH Country Weekly magazine. She began her career as a Music Agent Trainee at Creative Artists Agency and in artist management for Wynonna Judd.
“It’s so funny because I did not grow up doing pageants. When I was in college, I actually was very much a tomboy. I loved wearing sweatpants to class, which is not stereotypical of a beauty queen, I guess, or a pageant girl. So when I was in college a couple sorority sisters of mine said, “You can sing, you can speak, so we’re going to put you up to represent us at Miss MTSU,” because I went to MTSU.
I looked at them like they were crazy because I’d never done a pageant, so anyway I did. It was quite the entertaining experience, one that I’m so thankful now that I did, but I remember after the first pageant saying, “I don’t think I could ever do this again,” feeling like this is not my world. Then about a year later I met a guy that said, “Why don’t you just let me work with you?” And he did. We started doing more pageants, and then a couple more and did well, and then went on to Miss Tennessee and did well there.”
“For me it was more the fact that I was going to be traveling and speaking in schools and speaking on character education and at that point in my life I had just started my career in the music business when I won Miss Tennessee and I loved what I was doing, but I wanted to be doing more.
So this was an opportunity for me to travel and speak in schools and work with students and so I saw an opportunity for my life to have a bigger impact beyond just wearing a crown on my head. That definitely provided an opportunity as a platform to be able to go out and share my heart and the things that I learned over time, and the things I learned growing up and to also be able to help other people. That was the cool part about it for me.”
“I grew up in church. We were there every time the doors were open. My parents were really active, my grandparents were really active and so that’s just how we were raised and I grew up singing in church, which is where those skills were developed. I mean the first time I ever sang in front of an audience was in church.
But you know going through high school I always wanted to be the perfect “Christian girl” and I put quotes around that because I always wanted to do “everything right” quote, unquote. I very much had this mentality as much as I loved God and I loved the Lord as a kid, I mean I became a Christian when I was nine in terms of actually accepting Christ, but it really wasn’t until I was in college that I understood what it meant to have a relationship.”
“When I was growing up there never really was talk about relationships. I don’t want to say there was a lot of legalism, but there was the mentality that you should follow these rules, and this is exactly what you should do. My mentality was if I do all these things right then, my relationship with God will be stronger. I think for me again, it goes back to what is your heart behind it.
In college I served with Campus Crusade. I did some mission work with them living in Russia and also in Clearwater, Florida. So I think it was being with people who had grown up differently learning from them, and then being in this environment where it really was about a relationship you have with another person; it’s building that relationship with God, spending time with Him. I can’t pinpoint a specific day, or specific time.”
“Everybody’s scared to say that. Nobody wants to say that. There’s a beautifully done video that Colbie Caillat did. The reason it has connected so much isn’t necessarily about how much makeup we put on or we don’t put on, it’s more about the fact as women, that we want to be loved, adored and accepted for who we naturally are, not for who we project ourselves to be.
I just wrote a blog post about this that I’m about to post where it was hard to take a photo with no makeup on and be ok with it. If I’m being really honest, I don’t remember the last time I walked out of the house except to go to Barry’s Bootcamp or Yoga without some form of makeup on. It’s really one of those things where we really do live in a world where it’s a struggle, and it shouldn’t be so crazy that a woman is barefaced in a music video is just this outlandish thing, but it is because we’ve lived in this world of thinking that everybody is so perfectly photoshopped all the time.”
“Honestly, for me, number one starts with my relationship because I have to keep going back to what is true. But regarding the media, the images that come out, it’s almost like we’re pushed to do that in some perspective. I always have to keep going back to whenever I start to really struggle, about the way I look at myself, because we all have these insecurities to some degree. I mean I struggle with it all the time.”
“I think for me it’s having that accountability and I’ve got really strong women around me that I’ve been friends with, several of them for eight, ten years. So we’ve all walked through some life together and all are just strong Godly women, but are very humble at the same time. It’s having that accountability and to be able to look at you and say, “You know what I love you, but this is something you are doing that is not the best for you. This is not true of you,” or If I say something like, “Oh I look fat today,” or whatever.”
“You know it’s funny because it’s only been recently that I’ve at least allowed things to be on Facebook, or I’d lead worship at church in town, and there’s a photo that was posted and it was clear that I was leading worship. I work in a very mainstream world in television and so with a lot of different cross sections of people, with a lot of different backgrounds of life, and so for me it’s about loving people and they know I’m a Christian, but it’s not like throwing a Bible in their face.
That’s just not me. It’s one of those things recently where one of the guys that I work with called me and said, “Are you a Bible thumper or something, because I’ve gotten a couple of texts about it? ” I said, “Well what are you talking about?” I knew immediately he had seen this picture, but the reality is, it shouldn’t matter because that’s a part of who I am and a part of my faith.”
“It’s such a fine line. It really is. I think as women you need to be aware of what you’re wearing. I look in the mirror and say, “Ok, is that a little ridiculous?” Because we all want to look pretty and be attractive to the opposite sex, if we’re just being real honest about it. Again, it’s what is your motivation behind and what is your heart behind it. Even being in downtown Nashville, I will see girls and want to say, ‘I wish you would put a little more clothes on.’
I also think for men there’s a balance. Guys are accountable as well. I know guys that are trying to be really strong and that will literally turn away and I have a great respect for that. I mean I have other guys that I know that are trying to be strong Christian men, and then they’ll just stare and make a comment and that’s disheartening. There’s a balance that we are all responsible for our own action.”
“To love and accept myself for who I am. And forgiveness. Forgiveness has been a big theme in my life lately. I think we’ve all made mistakes in our past. I was in a relationship for a long time that was very destructive and I think I’m finally coming to a place that while I may have forgiven that person at that time, I believed a lot of lies for a long time. These lies they told about me, but also that I started to believe about myself.
So I think for me finally being able and allowing God to heal a lot of that and forgiving them, but also forgiving myself. I think as a strong woman, becoming a part of the world as I did with Miss Tennessee and going into television, people think you have it all perfectly together and the reality is none of us do. If we’re being really honest about it and so we are all struggling with something.
I think that’s been the theme is believing what the Lord says is true of me, not what this person has said to me for a long period of time, but then also forgiving myself for believing it for as long as I did.”
“Music. Everything I do on television now is mainly behind the scenes with artists, and is music based, and tours, and this is so much of my career. Before Miss Tennessee, my degrees were all in music business. My world has been the music industry for a very long time, so in terms of your question that’s definitely my platform in my world. I’ve been coming to a place where I could not have had the same conversations with women or girls had I not gone through the last couple of years in my life.
Things that were broken in me, God healed, and I’ve just being able to be authentic and real about that. For example, I was talking about earlier, people pleasing, wanting to be the perfect girl, there’s still those tendencies in me, but I’m realizing it’s the authentic and real, and us sharing our stories, and what has been redeemed, is what is really beautiful about this path of life.”
“You are beautiful! You are beautiful because that is what the Lord says is true about you and that you are worthy because you were created. I think that so often what we struggle with we look at our insecurities and we think we’re the only ones. You have gifts and talents that are unique to only you, so use those. Don’t listen to the negative voices and the things you hear people say and the things that are not true of you. That to me is a lie because you are meant for a greater purpose.”
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