GET TO KNOW DIANNE MICHELLE
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
I'm from Phoenix. I've lived here since I was little, and I love the desert landscape. I'm totally thin-blooded; when I travel, you can find me shivering and seeking the nearest blanket, jacket or heat lamp. My husband laughs at me because I'm totally comfortable keeping our house at 80-82 degrees during any time of year. I should say he laughs as he's turning the thermostat down. There's something uniquely beautiful about cacti and succulents—our house even has a bit of a Southwestern theme! My sweet husband—he's from Kansas. He has a few Kansas City souvenirs that are probably under a Sonoran blanket somewhere. I like to think we're a perfect blend of desert and prairie.
HOW DID YOU GET INTO MUSIC?
I got into music because I was in music class as a 4th grader and my teacher noticed that I was picking up on it. He told my parents, who enrolled me in this fun summer theatre camp, and I was hooked! I started writing songs much later as an adult, when I was leading a Freshman girls' Bible study at church. I realized how many lies there were in popular music, and that my girls were singing them on repeat! Culture was driving the messages on their lips and eventually on their minds and hearts. I was filled with a determination to change that, and I just started writing what the Bible said to music.
WHEN DID YOU FEEL CALLED TO LEAD WORSHIP?
I felt called to lead worship when I realized my desire to sing and deliver the emotion inside me could be channeled for the Kingdom. It didn't really click in my mind that my ability to perform could be used for good—I felt guilty when people clapped for me because I knew whatever gifts they were celebrating weren't inherently mine, but had been given to me. I denied the music inside me for years, pursuing other careers and roads. I thought that my desire to sing was inseparable from my pride, but it wasn't. God continues to use worship music to deliver me from shame, guilt, pride, and so many other things that got tangled with my love for music. Worship
music at its purest calls to me from the throne, and I feel honored to be in it with so many other people—onstage and off—on similar journeys to bring Him praise. I feel free to sing now; He's taught me that I could never outshine Him even if I tried!
WHAT DO YOU LOVE ABOUT YOUR SINGLE “I AM HEALED”?
SO MANY THINGS. I'm drawn to the message of "I Am Healed" because Jesus came for the sick, not the well. I love how the lyrics plead for a miracle but take you on a journey of realizing how no matter how your life, body, or situation appears, there is a deeper healing that took place on the cross that will last forever, beyond the difficulty of this moment or season. One of my favorite verses for healing is Romans 12:2, "Do not conform to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind." God's ways just aren't our ways. They're not the world's patterns. He uses what Satan means for evil to bring about our good. And He doesn't dismiss the pain and anguish we experience...He makes sure it doesn't win in the end. This song helps set our focus on eternity, which brings more peace than I can begin to understand.