BETWEEN THE LINER NOTES
Cherie Adams: A Song for a Broken Heart
By Sunmee Choi and Stephen Hubbard
The
700 Club
CBN.com –
Sunmee Choi [reporting]: Cherie Adams felt like she’d
made it when she sang at the GMA Dove awards ceremony with the legendary Aaron
Neville.
Cheri Adams: I was standing onstage next to him, I’m singing
a line, he’s singing a line, and I’m like, "This has got to be the coolest thing
in the world."
Sunmee Choi [reporting]: But her career was almost cut short
before it even began. She grew up a bubbly New Hampshire kid who always sang and
was saved at an early age. She delighted in her close-knit Italian family and
looked forward to starting one of her own.
Cheri: You dream of being married someday when you’re a
little girl -- especially Italians. We’re known for two things: you make the
meatballs and you make the babies.
Sunmee [reporting]: Cherie Adams’ dreams seemed to be
falling into place. She’d moved to Nashville to pursue her music career and her
high school sweetheart was set to follow. But suddenly, everything changed.
Cheri: We planned this whole wedding, thousands of dollars
spent, and three months before the wedding he got cold feet.
Sunmee [reporting]: To say it was a traumatic event is an
understatement.
Cheri: I never tried to kill myself but every minute of
every day I was just thinking of how I could do it or just begging God to take
me. I really wanted to die.
Sunmee [reporting]: To make matters worse, Cherie found out
her former fiancée married someone else. Cherie became physically sick, and her
mental anguish only got worse.
Cheri: I started hallucinating in the middle of the night. I
would see like hands coming at me, and I just knew that there was like a demonic
presence surrounding me -- a spirit of death trying to overtake me. This went on
for a good solid year every night.
Sunmee: Every night?
Cheri: Nightmares of being raped, nightmares of my ex with
his new wife -- just constant emotional, physical torture morning, noon and
night… mood swings like you wouldn’t believe.
Sunmee: Did you feel any presence of God at this time?
Cheri: I just really believed He didn’t love me any more. He
didn’t care about me. He didn’t know that I existed, and He sure as heck did not
hear my prayers. I was convinced that I was losing it. I thought I was going to
end up in a straightjacket in a mental hospital or something.
Sunmee [reporting]: When Cherie reluctantly agreed to go to
church with a friend, God used that opportunity to reach out to her.
Cheri: I’m sitting there with a pout on my face and all of
the sudden this visiting evangelist goes: “Is there a Cherie here?” He literally
called me by name. I about fell out of the pew. He puts his hand right on top of
my head and says, “The serotonins and the endorphins that have been depleted
from your brain chemistry due to a trauma in your life are now being
replenished, and I speak an antidepressant from Jesus into your life this very
day.”
Sunmee: It was shortly thereafter that you got your contract
with Avalon…
Cheri: Hundreds of girls tried out, but God had a plan for
me to be in that group. It was all about Him, His power and His anointing in my
life and very little to do with me.
Sunmee [reporting]: The rest of God’s plan for Cherie
unfolded soon after joining Avalon. She met her husband Kevin. After five years
and 10 No. 1 singles, Cherie says God called her to leave Avalon and share her
story as a solo artist.
Cheri: Every single song is just a little glimpse of my
testimony. They were all birthed out of the really hard times of my life. I know
what it is to be broken, completely hurting, and the hopelessness that’s
associated with that. I know that am no more special than you are. If He could
heal me from depression, take away my pain, and really repair my crushed heart,
I know that He can do the same for you. |
