By Clare BruceWednesday 25 May 2016NewsReading Time: 4 minutes
Her Facebook video’s been viewed almost 144 million times, she’s been interviewed by The Late Late Show’s James Corden, Good Morning America, internet media site Buzzfeed and the BBC, and has met Star Wars director J J Abrams.
And that’s all in the space of a week.
But Candace Payne, the Texan mum suddenly famous for her uncontrollable laughter while wearing a Chewbacca mask, which she captured in a live Facebook feed last week (see below), won’t let internet fame go to her head.
It turns out the 37-year-old mum-of-two with the infectious laugh and big sense of humour is a worship leader at The Oaks Fellowship church in Red Oak, Texas. She’s been a Christian most of her life, and since the age of 16 has believed God would use her for great things. But she also has a strong sense of humility and waiting on God, and isn’t the kind to promote herself.
Here’s What Chewbacca Mum Would Tell Her 16-Year-Old Self
At a conference for high school students gifted in the creative arts over the weekend, Candace was invited to speak on her sudden internet fame and about what she has learnt as a worship leader and creative.
She told her teenage audience that if she could talk to her 16-year-old self, she’d say that patience, and obedience to God were more important than great opportunities and fame.
“When I was 16, I had a vision and a dream from the Lord about my future [about] being used for His glory,” she said in a video (below) posted by John Calvin Cookman.
“I didn’t understand the interpretation of it. I still, to this day, at 37 years old, try to figure that dream out. But that dream has never left my heart, nor my mind, nor the way that I walk and follow Jesus.
“I know that God has gifted me in many different areas, and sometimes I feel like I’m a jack of many trades, and a master of none, because I have that creative buzz in me constantly going.
“What I’ve learned, and what I would tell myself at your age [is], it doesn’t matter how talented, how anointed, how gifted, how passionate or how willing you are, if you’re not fit to do the things that God has called you to do—and that is, ‘spiritually fit’.”
Three Things That Will Get You Far In Life
Candace described spiritual fitness as a series of character traits shaped by God, speaking emphatically—as though she may have learnt some lessons long ago, the hard way.
“The thing that will take you further and farther in the Kingdom of God is three things,” she said.
“Diligence – be diligent in the work of the Lord. Patience – have those moments where you stop and you wait upon the Lord. Don’t rush into ministry or a good opportunity because it looks shiny. Wait for the voice of God to direct you.
“Do not try to make a name for yourself. His name will always outshadow yours.”
“And then the third thing, it’s the biggest thing, if I could [speak] to my 16-year-old self, is – have obedience. When He tells you ‘move,’ move. When He tells you ‘stop,’ stop. When He tells you, ‘Indulge in the delights of my table,’ indulge. But when He tells you, ‘That’s not yours. You can’t have it,’ step away.
“Do not try to make a name for yourself. His name will always outshadow yours.”
“Chewbacca Got His Joy Back!”
Wearing a Darth Vader-inspired t-shirt, Candace laughed with her interviewer about worship leading after her sudden fame, as he joked, “it’s gonna be real hard because how many people will be [thinking] Chewbacca is leading me in worship.”
She told her audience about what was going through her head at the time she was recording her hilarious, spontaneous Chewbacca-mask video.
“I could see myself in the rear view camera on my phone, and all of a sudden I realised that’s the happiest Chewbacca I saw in my life,” she laughed. “I really was thinking, ‘he’s got his joy back’. I felt like it was a win for Star Wars, Chewbacca, the whole world. And I couldn’t stop laughing. And I really tried.
“There were things in my head like, ‘you are a grown woman, there’s people walking by, take the mask off!’, but the joy was… I couldn’t stop. It’s the simple joys. That made my whole day.”