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Nicole C. Mullen has paid her dues. After several years of establishing herself behind the scenes as a songwriter (she won a Dove in 1999 for "On My Knees"), choreographer (Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, Newsboys) and studio singer, Nicole stepped out front in 2000. Those who saw her perform at the Dove Awards or on tour with Michael W. Smith were equally captivated by her mesmerizing stage presence and amazing ability to quote long passages of Scripture with animation and power. Her self-titled debut centers on issues of family and faith, highlighted by the 2001 Song of the Year, "Redeemer."

FamilyChristian.com: Last year, before your album came out, you joked about being known to the music world, but that you hadn't been introduced, because of your work behind the scenes. Wow—what an introduction you've had! What kind of respoinse have you had to your record?

Nicole: It's been overwhelmingly positive and I know that's nothing short of a God thing. I know a lot of people have come out [to a concert] because they've heard "Redeemer" on the radio or they've heard me sing somewhere. But when they come out they get the whole CD, they take the whole journey with us, from "Freedom" all the way down to "Redeemer."

FamilyChristian.com: I've heard you describe the album as your "journal in song."

Nicole: We always said that we wanted this album to be one of those things where you could look into the windows of my life, of our lives. And when you look, you probably see yourself and [say], "You know what? I can identify with that." It was like my [way] of saying, "These are things that have happened to me, good and not so good, and I want to be the first to put my hand up and say, 'Okay, I'll go first.'" Hopefully after I've gone first, other people will feel a little more comfortable and say, "That's me too." In saying that, sometimes you can deal with it a little bit better because you feel like you have other people who have gone through it too. You have comfort in knowing, "I'm not the only one."

It is my journal in song. I'm not disciplined enough to really write it down every day but once you stop and think about where I've been and where I've come from, it makes me want to write and sing about it and thank God. God is so good at taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary in His own way. It's not really anything we can do on our own. I'm just one of God's people. I had nothing to offer Him, nothing spectacular to impress Him, but somehow or another, He still decided to use me. I know that if He could do it with me, He can do it with anybody else.

FamilyChristian.com: "Redeemer," of course, is the song that really put the spotlight on you. What inspired you to write it?

Nicole: I was reading Job. Job is a guy who endured all these hardships. He lost all 10 of his kids and lost his finances and his animals and his house. He complained and he whined a little bit but he still found a seed of hope that had been planted on the inside of him. Out of that he began to say, "I know my Redeemer lives and in the last day He's going to stand up on the earth and though my body be destroyed, in my flesh I'm going to see God." And I remember after reading that thinking, "Wow. If this guy who's gone through all this can still find hope, then so can I." And so I just picked up my little guitar and the melody for the chorus and the words just started coming. I thought that the verses would come just as easily but that took another year or so.

FamilyChristian.com: Songs like "Freedom" and "Family Tree" bring out the theme of heritage on your debut. What does family mean to you?

Nicole: Family is the shoulders I stand upon. Family is my comfort zone. It is the people who make me me-the good, the bad, the ugly, the beautiful. It's who I am. Actually, before I felt like I could go on I had to stop and to acknowledge my family and to thank those who have have come before me, the people who are now part of the great cloud of witnesses that watch us. Without them, there would be no Nicole C. Mullen. Without them there would be no "On My Knees." Without them there would be no "Redeemer."

FamilyChristian.com: Isn't there's a little snippet of your dad on the record?

Nicole: My dad is on the record, yes. He sings like Nat King Cole. He's on the new one also-I had to bring him back. My kids are on there. They're on the new one again. My husband produced the first one and [the new album]. It's just a family affair. I had my nieces and nephews come and sing. On the new one, my sisters came and sang. I want to make sure I shed light on everybody. There's more to Nicole C. Mullen than the just the single person that you see.

FamilyChristian.com: Another very personal song is "Black, White, Tan" which was written for your daughter. How do you hope that she'll embrace her dual heritage?

Nicole: It's interesting because Jasmine has always been aware of color from the time she was probably two years old. She would always say, "Mommy's brown and Papa's white and I'm tan." And she would see someone of Asian decent and [say], "They're tan just like me." She wasn't aware of culture; she was aware of color. We thought, "That's the heart that we need to all keep."

It's not bad to notice color. It's not a mean thing. It's a good thing. When God made the rainbow, He made it multi-colored on purpose because He loves variety, He loves color, He loves beauty. When He made the grass and He made flowers, He made them colorful. They're not just black and white. They're not just pale. And so we always encourage other people that when you see these things and when you see people that look different, that speak different, get to know them. Appreciate it. Look at it. Don't become colorblind all of the sudden.

We tell Jasmine the same thing too. Color was never meant to define anyone. It was only meant to describe and so if we remember it in those terms then it's not an offensive thing; it's a beautiful thing. She knows who she is. She goes to school where there are Caucasian kids, there are African-American kids, there are biracial kids, there are Hispanic kids She has white cousins, black cousins and they all love her. They love [our son] Maxwell too. Maxwell is full African-American. We adopted him when he was three weeks old but he looks more like me than Jasmine, which is ironic. They're aware of color. They're not overwhelmed by it, though. It's not something that is a huge issue at our house. We talk about history - there were good white people and there were bad white people. There were good black people and there were bad black people. You'll always have that. We have currently and we will have it in the future. Color's not what makes them good or bad. It's the heart of man. And without Jesus Christ, we're all inherently evil. And without Him redeeming us and saving us, that's our lot in life.

Even in the church, we as believers have to get over our prejudices. All of us have them. It can be the rich against the poor, the poor against the rich, the black against the white, the white against the black. It can be us against foreigners. It can be anything. Those are things that we have to go to the cross and say, "You know, God, I have this in my heart." Sometimes we may not see [it]. Sometimes it may take time before it even surfaces. But once it does, we need to give that to the Lord, admit it and quit it. That's one of our lifelong lessons and I'm sure it's not over yet. It's not the end of the chapter.

FamilyChristian.com: That song is such an encouragement to people. Have you gotten a lot of feedback about it?

Nicole: I have. I get people all over the country that will come out say, "My niece is biracial" or they'll bring them to the concert. I have a lot of biracial kids who will come. A lot of biracial grown-ups will come and [say], "This is my song and I thank you for writing about it." It's really refreshing.

FamilyChristian.com: As an interracial couple, have you and David experienced much racism?

Talk About It by Nicole C. Mullen

Nicole: You know, I thought we would but to be honest, no. I'm sure [some] people don't like it. I think when we were dating we probably felt it more than after we got married. I was a little more paranoid than he was. I was always like, "Oh no, what are people going to think?" He always [said], "Who cares?" We finally got to a point before we got married [when] I [said], "We're not asking the world's permission. We got our parents' permission. We got the Lord's permission and we love each other." It was to us [like] the color of your hair, the color of your eyes. We don't get up every morning going, "Oh, we're in an interracial marriage." You just don't think like that. It's an important part but at the same time, it's irrelevant because it's a people issue, it's not a color-of-your-skin issue.

FamilyChristian.com: That's encouraging to hear. A hundred years ago, you probably would have had some issues.

Nicole: Even 40 or 50 years ago it was taboo. And not too long before that, it was illegal. We feel fortunate. We feel very fortunate to have great parents on both sides. Our parents just love both of us, support us both. My mom and dad have been keeping in touch with his mom and dad. They call each other, they talk, they send each other CDs. We enjoy it and we thank God for it because we know it's rare. There are a lot of people with different stories. There are people who have had hate mail and crosses and all kinds of stuff so I'm not going to say that it doesn't happen. It does still exist. There's still prejudice over the issue in this country but I think we've been fortunate so far not to have felt the extreme versions of it.

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