High school senior Jennifer Jeffries impressed the “American Idol” judges with her original song describing herself wrestling with sin and her relationship with God. Jeffries performed “Change My Ways” for an audition that aired the night of Sunday, March 3, and the three judges were so impressed with her voice that they unanimously sent her to Hollywood.
“The songs I write, they’re about personal things, things I been through, just things that I’ve witnessed,” Jeffries said during the episode. “I write them so people can connect with them and know they’re not alone because a lot happens in your life, a lot of pain but a lot of joy. So I try to capture both.”
Jennifer Jeffries: God’s ‘Love Isn’t Paper Thin’
Jennifer Jeffries is 17-year-old from Mississippi and the youngest of nine children. She said that auditioning for “American Idol” has “been mentioned to me a lot,” but she didn’t know if she was “good enough.” She sent in a video thinking it would never be seen—but it was.
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During the episode, Jeffries’ mother, Sheila, said she had videos of her daughter’s family members singing songs the high school senior wrote when she was nine. Jeffries thanked her family for being “so supportive,” saying, “They’re like my backbone.”
The song she performed for the judges describes herself “living in sin” and only praying to God when she needs his help but finally changing to follow him wholeheartedly.
“I’ve got a Bible on my desk / With no highlights, creases / Oh, pages are still crisp,” Jeffries began. Other lyrics say:
I have been feeding the flesh,
I have been living in sin.
My mouth’s been running wild,
And I’ve been acting like a wild child.
Later in the song, Jeffries sings that she is committed to praising God for the rest of her life: “I’ve finally changed / Lord, make your ways my ways.”
The song concludes, “I’ve got a Bible in my hands / With faded pages / And highlighted paragraphs.”