{"id":33338,"date":"2024-03-11T09:20:24","date_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:20:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/?p=33338"},"modified":"2024-03-11T09:20:24","modified_gmt":"2024-03-11T13:20:24","slug":"christian-teen-wows-american-idol-judges-with-original-song-about-god-make-your-ways-my-ways","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/idolchatter\/2024\/03\/christian-teen-wows-american-idol-judges-with-original-song-about-god-make-your-ways-my-ways.html","title":{"rendered":"Christian Teen Wows ‘American Idol’ Judges With Original Song About God: ‘Make Your Ways My Ways’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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American Idol\/YouTube<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A Christian teenager who auditioned for \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d recently advanced in the competition after singing a powerful song about sin, God, and truth. Jennifer Jeffries, a 17-year-old senior in high school from Starkville, Mississippi, is the youngest of nine children. She appeared on the reality singing competition, performing an original song called \u201cChange My Ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

She sang, \u201cI’ve got my Bible on my desk. With no highlights, creases, pages are still crisp.” She proclaimed, “I have been feeding flesh. I have been living in sin. My mouth’s been running wild, and I’ve been acting like a wild child.” The piece includes a prayer declaring, “God, I know you’re there,” and asking God to “make Your ways my ways.” She vowed, “I\u2019ll sing your praise for all my days. I\u2019ll finally change, Lord. Make your ways my ways.\u201d The song concludes by contrasting the singer\u2019s Bible at the beginning of the song, which had barely been used, with its current state, which contains \u201cfaded pages\u201d and \u201chighlighted paragraphs.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Jeffries\u2019 performance, the judges expressed exasperation at how much they enjoyed it.\u00a0Judge Luke Bryan said, \u201cI was not expecting that voice. Judge Lionel Richie remarked, \u201cI am sitting here thinking the same thing.\u201d Bryan praised Jeffries\u2019 \u201camazingly unique voice that I don\u2019t think we\u2019ve ever kind of heard.\u201d Judge Katy Perry commented on what she described as \u201cthis unique grit\u201d that is \u201cso Mississippi\u201d and \u201cso raw.\u201d Bryan contended that Jeffries had an \u201cindie film soundtrack voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I\u2019m in love with is your uniqueness,\u201d Richie added. When Perry asked if she played \u201caround town,\u201d Jeffries responded, \u201cI was going to start playing in bars because we\u2019ve got plenty of \u2019em, but there\u2019s an age limit sometimes.\u201d\u00a0All three judges voted “yes” to send her to the next stage of the competition, Hollywood Week. Bryan presented her with the “golden ticket” to Hollywood.<\/p>\n