Part 1 of an interview with Lisa Lloyd, Author of Chasing Famous, and actress you might recognize from Young and the Restless or one of many commercials or billboards in the Dallas area. Check back on our blog next Thursday June 23rd for part 2 of the interview. If you missed the book excerpt we posted last Thursday, I recommending checking it out. Donna, More Than a Review
Life can be compared to a series of auditions. Regardless of who we are, we are constantly auditioning for a part: to be the most loving spouse, attentive parent or amazing employee. It is human nature to want to be loved, affirmed and accepted. Whether it is conscious or not, all these desires focus inwardly. In
Chasing Famous: Living the Life You’ve Always Auditioned For (New Hope Press), Lisa Lloyd helps readers shift the focus outwardly and back on God and His glory.
Q: The phrase “chasing famous” brings to mind some vivid images. How does your book spin the idea of fame?
As an actor, when I think of “famous people,” they are on another level. They are esteemed, rich, and successful-they appear to have everything. I want to be them and chase after what I think is bringing them their success so I can have it too. There’s an L.A. actress who beat me out for a role in a TV movie about a year ago, and now I see her all over the place on national commercials. She’ll pop up on TV, and I’ll think, Oh, goodness, this girl again! In the deep recesses of my heart I wonder, What do I need to do to have her success? Do I need to take a different acting workshop? What if I lived in Los Angeles-would I have access to the things she has? In my jealousy I ask, If I was in a different situation would I be able to have her success?
Whether we are actors or not, we all want some level of fame. We chase after it. We look at other people, compare ourselves and say, “If only I were doing what they were doing . . . If only I had that house, body, or family situation . . . If only I was in their circumstance, then I would have their success and fame.” Sometimes we go after what we want and someone else has, or we live depressed because we will never have it. That’s just idolatry, right? It’s very “me-focused,” and because it’s so self-focused, it will never bring fulfillment because my focus of self is the complete antithesis of focus on God.
God wants to be glorified through me. He wants me to chase the fame of His name, not the fame of mine. He wants to use my past mistakes, talents, and everyday life for His glory. My book helps us know how we can chase the fame of God’s name with everything in us, though everything in us clings to our own self-preservation and chases after our own glory.
Q: As an actress, the pressure to seek fame and fortune must be heavy. Share with us how you came to seek to put God in the spotlight and eventually write your book, Chasing Famous.
I drove to an audition one day, reviewing my lines and wiping my sweaty palms on my pants. I focused on thinking about what I needed to do to book the job. I just sensed the Lord say to my spirit, “Lisa, I need you to be more concerned about making Me famous at this audition than yourself.” It stopped me emotionally because I never really considered the magnitude of glorifying God in my work. I always just kind of threw up a prayer that was very me-focused, “Lord help me book this audition for the paycheck and the sake of getting to work on my craft.” But really, deep down, I wanted the applause when people saw me on TV. My desire as an actress was the glorification of me. To hear the Lord say I needed to focus on the opposite was a radically new thought.
As I drove, I considered making God famous at the audition would look like me walking into the building asking God to shine through me. To be focused on the other actors auditioning
-to talk with them and ask them questions about themselves. To stand before the director, not concerned about being chosen, but being a light. To offer the gifts and talents God’s given me as an act of worship. Then the booking of the job was not up to mebut to Him.
After that audition, I saw all over Scripture how God has positioned and purposed us as His glory-and image-bearers-to proclaim the fame of His name to all the world. Then I was asked to speak somewhere, and every subject or topic I spoke on came back to the reason of why we do these things (parent, trust God, work toward racial reconciliation, etc.). It’s all because it brings God glory and makes Him famous.
Q: How are our lives similar to one audition after another?
In an audition, I’m hoping to be pretty enough, quirky enough, talented enough, funny enough, and fashionable enough so I can be the one chosen. Many people have to agree on me to book the job-the director, the producers, and the client. In life, I’m constantly walking around hoping people will like me, choose me, approve me, select me. I want to be enough for them. Sometimes this is blatantly obvious; other times it’s very subtle, and we don’t even know we’re trying to be enough. It’s only when we realize we’ve already been selected by God and have to do nothing for Him that we find peace. Now we can live a life of security, knowing our job is not to be selected, but to point people still seeking approval to the One who gives it unconditionally.
Q: Striving to be the best at something, whether it be a loving spouse, supermom, or excellent employee, is nothing new, but how has social media made us even more competitive?
Social media is the perfect place to hide behind a screen, showing the world only the good stuff of our lives. Seldom do we become vulnerable and share how we struggle. When we are vulnerable, we set ourselves up for people’s pity and let them see a side of us that’s not completely “with it.” We have to answer to this as people comment beneath our posts. Instead we just see (and often post) achievements and successes.
A friend of mine on social media is a model, and it’s easy for me to compare myself to her. I get sidetracked from my true Identity and fail to remember God doesn’t want me to be her-God wants me to be me. When I’m sidetracked by who I’m not, I lose focus of Whose I am.
We can combat this when we dare to be vulnerable on social media. Vulnerability breeds vulnerability, and it can set people free to know they are not alone and Christians do not, in fact, have it all together. We all need Jesus, and we make Him famous when we say so.
Q: You write, “God delights in using our shortcomings, and even our former disdain for His name, to His glory.” Can you give us an example of how He’s used your experiences for His glory?
Though I was a Christian as a teenager, I didn’t live like one. I wanted to but wanted the love of people more, especially boys. I lost my virginity at 15, and by the time I was 18, I was pregnant. I was headed to college and was terrified. In the center of my crisis pregnancy, I thought my only viable option was abortion, so that’s what I did.
A month later, a Christian friend of mine reminded me God had plans for my life, but it was up to me if I wanted Him to fulfill them. He couldn’t press forward with all He had for me if I was living as I was. I needed to give up my current way of living to experience God to His fullest. In that moment, I saw my sin and wanted nothing to do with it. I wanted to change. I asked God to forgive me and felt Him say to me there was nothing I would ever do to make Him not love me. He told me I’d need to leave behind the friendships and behaviors that were currently easy for me. If I did, He would make it worth it.
This story is why I am who I am and do what I do. It’s why I’ve written this book and want to live for the glory of His name.
Q: You experienced a dramatic redemption with Christ. What would you say to the person who is too entrenched in pain, frustration, anger, or guilt to see the reality of Christ and the true freedom He offers?
I’ve met many of these people, especially after they hear my story of premarital sex and abortion as a teenager. To these people, I ask them what they’ve seen in God’s character that tells them He will respond any differently to them than He did to me. There is nothing. It is Satan who has us believing God will hold our records of wrongs against us when, in fact, God wants to give us freedom so He can use our past to show others how amazing He is! It takes bravery to trust God in this and give up the shackles we’ve grown accustomed to, but there is a free life waiting for us. The prison door is wide open for us to leave through. It’s up to us to walk.
Q: Has playing so many characters and personalities made it difficult for you to find your own identity and purpose in Christ? What do you do when you discover your focus has shifted back to self?
Not so much playing the characters, but my purpose gets skewed when I try to find my identity and value in my work as opposed to God. At any moment, I could no longer be an actor-I could be in a car accident, for example. If my worth is tied up in my career, I will be lost. My worth must be wrapped up in the fact I’m God’s. This is easy for me to say but much harder to live out.
I have to surround myself with reminders of truth, such as time in the Word, time with my godly husband, or time with a godly friend, to put me back in perspective. If I can remember that being an actor or booking the next job won’t give me the applause of Jesus when I get to heaven, then I can usually get back on track. However, I often need outside sources to remind me of this when I’m consumed by my own thoughts. It’s important I work to have those sources of repetitious truth at the ready.
View the book trailer for Chasing Famous and learn more about Lisa Lloyd at chasingfamousbook.com, on Facebook (LisaJLloyd), and via Twitter (@LisaJLloyd).