Once Upon a Time
By Natalie Grant and Charlotte Gambill
Once upon a time... This is a phrase we are all familiar with. It’s that mysterious introduction to an adventure.
This is the once upon a time of Dare to Be.
For some, Dare to Be may be familiar. For others who are joining this story for the first time, let’s start at the very beginning. Let me take you back to 2005, on a summer’s evening in a church auditorium in California. The event was a women’s conference, and this was the opening night. The conference host had invited several guests to minister at this gathering, including a girl from England who taught the Word and a gospel singer from Nashville—by way of Seattle—who would lead some worship. These two girls had never met before. Actually, they did not even know of each other’s existence.
I remember being a few rows from the front, standing and worshipping, caught up in the presence of God, when I was abruptly interrupted by an audible male voice. With my eyes still closed, I wondered if someone had come over to whisper some instruction to me about the conference. Was the conference host sending someone to get my attention? I opened my eyes, and no one was there—everyone was still worshipping. Then I heard the voice again, and what came next was the strangest instruction.
Charlotte, open your eyes. The girl at the back of the auditorium in an orange sweater and jeans is to do with your future.
Yep, that was it. That was all I heard, and it was enough to completely freak me out. Surely it wasn’t God—it was the jet lag. Surely I was imagining this. I had traveled to the event with a friend, and so my first response was not, Yes, Lord. I believe You, Lord. It was to elbow my friend who was worshipping next to me and say what must have seemed so random. I asked her to turn around and tell me if there was someone at the back of the auditorium in an orange sweater and jeans.
It seemed like forever before her reply came, but eventually she whispered, “Yes, there’s a girl at the door wearing an orange sweater and jeans.” And of course, she followed that up with, “Why do you want to know?”
“Don’t ask,” I replied. Yes, I was embarrassed to say the words that I had felt God whisper to me. This completely random person, whom I hadn’t even turned around and acknowledged for myself, had something to do with my future. It seemed silly to even think that, let alone say it out loud.
As worship ended, I took my seat and was busy trying to ignore what had just happened when the host of the conference tapped me on the shoulder. I had known this lovely lady for years, and she is one of those sweet people who is soft spoken and so gentle in her manner. She simply touched my shoulder and said, “I know you’re not speaking tonight, but it would be lovely if you could stand up and greet people and lead the giving part of the service.”
Here’s the thing about sweet and gentle people: It’s hard to say no to them. So I agreed to an impromptu role in taking the offering, which clearly was not as impromptu as I thought.
As I was leaving my chair she added, “Oh, just one thing. The giving leads into a time of worship. Could you introduce our guest who’ll be singing?”
In a quick scramble for information, a team member handed me the singer’s bio and said, “When you get to that part, just read this out. She’ll come on and sing.”
When it was time to read the bio as I stood on stage, I began with the first line: “We are so excited tonight to have with us an incredible gospel singer.”
I looked up and saw, walking from the back of the auditorium down the center aisle, the girl in the orange sweater and jeans. I was talking, she was walking toward me, and then, well, the whole room got to witness a beautiful and God-planned interruption.
I opened my mouth to read the next line of the bio, and what came out was not what was written on the paper but what was written on God’s page. I started prophesying words over the stranger in the aisle, and she started crying— as these were words her heart clearly needed to hear. I honestly can’t remember what I said, and perhaps that’s just how God meant it to be. Those words were for her heart and not for my holding. All I know is that this stranger in the orange sweater was moving closer, not just in physical proximity but also somehow spiritually.
As she made it up onto the platform to try to sing in front of everyone who had just witnessed her tears, I remember giving her a very awkward hug. I whispered, “I’m Charlotte, and I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t normally do this.”
She whispered, “I’m Natalie, and I don’t either.”
With that I left the stage and took my seat, and then the girl in the orange sweater closed her eyes and opened her mouth and, well, that’s when my tears started flowing. There was such anointing, such purity, such power in the words she sang. And in some very strange way, there was such familiarity in the place from which these words were being drawn.
Once upon a time, two strangers from two different nations, two girls who didn’t know each other, were somehow on the same page. I knew something was happening, but I had no idea what it was. Just as when you read the first page of a fairy tale, and you are intrigued to know what is going to happen, the next chapter beckoned. This was the once upon a time of Dare to Be.
Dare To Be is a worldwide community of women daring to claim the promises of Christ for herself, her family, and her surrounding communities. The concept of Dare To Be was birthed out of Natalie Grant & Charlotte Gambill’s friendship as a way to build a community of like-minded women. Their passion is to awaken the potential within every woman by daring her to be all God has called her to be.
Excerpted with permission from Dare to Be by Charlotte Gambill and Natalie Grant, published by Harvest House Publishers, Eugene, Oregon, 97408. Copyright 2021, Charlotte Gambill and Natalie Grant www.harvesthousepublishers.com.