Faith & Fitness Magazine: Our readers from Australia write me and share about their passion for fitness and ministry. I see that you were raised in Sydney. Your music certainly has a lot of energy. How has your Australian heritage influenced your faith, your active lifestyle and your music?
Charmaine: Well, being Aussie you’re never too far from the beach! So soaking up the sun and playing in the waves is essential fun and by default fitness. I grew up with my parent’s music ministry, always singing and touring. Australia is a beautiful country to travel but also unforgiving, especially the “outback.” To break down in the middle of nowhere in a bus was always a test of faith! However, God always saw us through every time, getting us to the next town to sing and share of Him.
F&F: Your new album Love/Reality is your first release. Share about your vision for the project and how you hope it will impact lives.
C: I hope people will be drawn to a way of thinking that leads them to trust the real reality in-spite of whatever situation their in. The real reality is a world of peace that only through knowing and trusting Him, we can find.
F&F: Your ministry has you traveling. What are the common challenges you see facing the people you meet all around the world?
C: A common challenge I see in all people is a lack of commitment to believe in God in spite of it all. It’s hard to see beyond the struggles of day to day life. I hope through my music people will think and be encouraged to trust and love Him more. It’s a choice to be made in-spite of how we feel.
F&F: Your website says, “It’s not every day you meet someone who is so secure in their insecurities. It’s the lovely sense of contrasts that is part of Charmaine.” Contrasts and insecurities are hallmarks of a life shaped by tension. It is both a clash and an interesting interaction that pulls and stretches. Describe how tension has changed who you are and continues to form who God is calling you to be.
C: Well, the “tensions” are what keep me absolutely trusting in Him. To be secure in my insecurities is just another way of saying “when I am weak, He is strong.” To know my insecurities, my weaknesses, is to know that I am incapable, but He is not. Yes, it’s a lovely tension.
Charmain – Love Reality (2010)
F&F: In your song FIGHTING FURIES you talk about the need to find your way and the personal battles that you are not meant to fight. What happened when God helped you recognize that you were in the way of your own personal growth? How do you feel God has helped you to release these furies and find comfort?
C: If I hadn’t faced and tried to fight these “furies” (fighting myself, fighting Him, fighting the powers that be) on my own, i would never have known that it’s impossible to battle out struggles in life alone; the ups and downs, the questions and ultimately the ‘sin’ in me. I came to find that what I needed was to be out of the equation entirely and realize that only someone like God could fight this because it was and is a God sized problem. He came to my rescue when I gave the fight over to Him.
F&F: Share about someone with whom you have had the opportunity to support that is going through a spiritual struggle that has impacted their physical life.
C: My mother had an issue with her thyroid. It was a hard time mainly because the thyroid controls the hormones and thus affects the emotions. Many times my mother (Najee) would feel down and almost hopeless in her walk with God. It’s amazing what eating healthy and keeping your body in good shape does to your psyche! Although my mother has to deal with her thyroid for the rest of her life, exercising and eating well changes her perspective on life, God, and everything! I have simply encouraged her walk by walking beside her through it all.
F&F: I hear that your brother has served as your personal trainer or maybe he is better characterized as your boot camp sergeant. What are the workouts like? Is he really that tough?
C: It’s actually my cousin Adrian who loves working out, and he’s great at “training” me. I think I am the worst trainee he’s had! I like Pilates, but am not a fan of free-weights so I have a hard time keeping up with him. He keeps me focused on what’s going to help me while performing which is cardio and abs.
F&F: What do you enjoy most about your personal fitness time and what are your favorite exercises and recreational activities?
C: I love to run and do Pilates. Pilates has been a great help overall and really helped my breathing which is a huge help to my singing!
F&F: What are the top 10 goals on your to-do list this year? How do you think they will challenge you and how will a physically and spiritually fit lifestyle help you to achieve them?
C: I don’t know if I have ten! However, I do have a few:
1. To spend more time in the Word
2. To spend more time in conversation with God
3. To eat healthy
4. 4 To work out 5 times a week
5. To commit more to singing warm-ups everyday
The mind and body are so connected that it takes both feeling healthy and strong to feel whole and together. So I hope that a commitment to spending time with Him and taking care of my body’s needs will make for a stronger mind and spirit as well as a healthier, more fit, me.
F&F: The folks at your record label say you’ve really been pushing the edges over the past few months. In what ways do you feel you’ve pushed the edges? How can pushing the edges be both good and bad for you?
C: A challenge is always good! Pushing the edges for me has been having much to do with many deadlines looming ahead; to be expected with an album coming out. I guess it just takes balance. Doing the best that you can depends on balancing yourself to the point that you can do more simply because you are rested or you spend that extra fifteen minutes processing and surrendering it all to God.
F&F: What are your favorite comfort foods and how do you de-stress?
C: I love oranges and celery with tuna and mayo! De-stressing is done by watching the latest episode of ‘Fringe’ or having a good laugh with family and friends.
F&F: How do you find your stage performance and your daily life to be different?
C: Being on the road performing is active with late nights, loud music, and high intensity; life at home is catching up with friends, church, writing and recording. Both are quite busy… however, I wouldn’t change anything for either.
F&F: Your album is called Love/Reality. How do you think people create their own reality? How do you think our reality can be transformed if we stop wrestling with God?
We create our own reality by falling into the idea that maybe what we’re going through in the moment is what’s real: our struggles, our broken relationships, our faults, addictions, and so on. We are human, physical, ‘made from dust’ creatures, that are so bound by this body that we sometimes fail to see what has been restored through Jesus Christ. This Kingdom of God is for you and me… the “unhealthy ones.” To step into that reality is to simply trust that all that he says he is, is true. Of all that we fall short, He has already compensated for it. And all that we hope to be, He already is– in us! It’s a Kingdom of peace. To stop wrestling with God is to simply choose to believe in-spite of your unbelief, walking on in-spite of how you feel or don’t feel, pushing forward whether seeing or not seeing.
