How does a down home girl raised in Dollywood, Tennessee with a heart for God cope with the star making demands of the CCM industry? Tony Cummings examines the career of award winning CINDY MORGAN to find out.

A year away from music inspired her to sing again, and so Cindy returned to Dollywood for auditions but was unsuccessful. Then she auditioned for a southern gospel trio and again felt the sting of rejection. "I was real upset about that... I was just like, 'God, I'm desperate, I'm desperate.' I didn't want to work at Dollywood, and I didn't want to work with this group because I knew it wasn't my niche. But I wanted to sing so bad that I just didn't care." Finally, Cindy said she just resolved to do what God wanted regardless; and since no doors were opening in music, she felt it might be time to give up her dreams. As a last ditch effort, though, Cindy gave her friend Kirk Talley a demo tape she had put together for Star Search, a tape he then passed on to John Mays at Word Records. And Mays decided this was a young singer he needed to meet.

"I remember the day I got that message was July 1, 1990 - I'll never forget it. I couldn't believe it. I went out and bought just the right dress, just the right shoes, just the right earrings, I was so nervous about looking right. I knew first impressions were so important and I didn't know what to do. I remember sitting there and just waiting for him to come down the stairs. We hit it off immediately - we connected, we understood one another. That day he said, 'We'll do a demo on you and we'll pay for it.' Things just don't happen like that!"

No, things certainly don't "just happen" like that, but the fairy tale was just beginning. Since that day three years ago, Cindy Morgan released her debut, 'Real Life', which led to three No 1 radio singles, a tour with Steven Curtis Chapman and a Dove Award for New Artist Of The Year; not to mention the opportunity to be the first new artist ever asked to perform as part of the 'Young Messiah Tour'.

Last Christmas Cindy participated in a group tour of Israel which made a huge impact on her. "I wanted to go to Israel because my mom had always wanted to go, and so I thought it would be kind of a neat way for her to get to go. She always wanted to be a missionary and she always wanted to visit the Holy Land. My own reason for going was that I wanted to experience my faith in an original way. I wanted to find it all over again."

Overflowing with enthusiasm, Morgan describes the discovery. She recalls the tour's pastor reading the beatitudes one day as the group sat near the Sea of Galilee at a spot perhaps where Jesus had once taught. The day was beautiful, with a slight breeze, as the group sat in a garden-like setting. "I looked down at the water, and suddenly I could see Jesus there. I began thinking about the most powerful thing - Jesus wasn't there to speak to doctors and lawyers and brain surgeons. He was there to speak to the people, to the farmers, and fishermen, and paupers and homeless people and whoever. That's when it all started to click for me: our Christian walk is not about meeting important people and making all the right connections. It's about caring about people from everywhere.

"The thing that was so poetic about the life of Jesus was that he could have come as anything, but he came as a gentle and merciful carpenter who was a servant to (humanity), who was a servant of everyone he came in contact with. He did nothing but give until he was on the cross. The last thing he did was the ultimate act of forgiveness."

This is Cindy Morgan, re-established in the roots of her personal life and her faith, under the waterfall of God's grace. She seems comfortable distancing herself from the expectations of others and her own expectations.

"I am more content now than I was (when 'Reason To Live' came out). I think I want less than I used to. I wanted to be successful. I wanted to have a husband and children. I wanted a nice well-rounded life. I believe that someday I might have all those things, but now I just want to get through the day and know that I did the right thing.

"The only goal that I hope I ever have is that I know God more. I don't want it to be that I sell a million records, and I don't want it to be that I get married or that I get a really great (album) review or whatever. I used to think that's what mattered. I don't want that because in the light of eternity, I think the most important thing is knowing God."