Thirteen years ago, a one-month-old baby girl was left in a cardboard box at a China train station—unwanted, unloved and unnamed.
Today, she is a singing sensation named McKenzie Grace Walker who is using her powerhouse vocals to praise the name of Jesus and make his name known throughout the world.
But McKenzie’s miraculous journey never could have been made possible without the faithfulness of her parents, Chuck and Kim, who felt a specific calling upon their lives to adopt a little girl from China.
After welcoming their first adopted child into their home in 2000, it was pressed upon the couple’s hearts to adopt another daughter.
At this point McKenzie was one year old, and though she couldn’t speak yet, the Walkers were about to find out that their little one was made to be a voice unto the world.
“When we got home from China, we just walked in the door and we had a chime clock in our kitchen,” recalls Kim. “She heard the chime, and she walked up to it and looked at it and mimicked the sound exactly on pitch.”
The couple was in complete awe of her ability to carry such a harmonious tune at the ripe age of one. And that was only the beginning of McKenzie’s love affair with music.
“Wherever we went, she would hum along with music,” says Kim. “It became obvious that it was just a part of who she was.”
McKenzie would sing at the grocery store, while she was playing, and would even orchestrate concert programs when friends were over.
By the time she was five, she was already performing in front of crowds and told her parents she wanted to be a “famous singer” when she grows up.
Well, this talented teen has accomplished just that.
From belting the National Anthem for three consecutive years at Houston Astros games to singing for thousands of adoring fans at her concerts, McKenzie has certainly come a long way from humming to the tune of chime clocks.
In March of 2015, she signed a record deal through Mansion Entertainment to be distributed by Sony/RED.
According to Southern Gospel Music News, “a new radio single from her debut project will be shared with Southern Gospel radio entitled, ‘Heaven Come Down.'”
McKenzie still can’t believe the life she’s living is real, and not a dream that she hasn’t woken up from yet—and her parents undoubtedly feel the same.
“We’re just a normal family, and to watch all those children gather around her and want their picture made, and their smiling faces, and to watch McKenzie interacting with them, it’s just so much fun,” says her dad. “You can’t get any better than that as a parent observing that. McKenzie can go out and help children and help spread the love of Jesus throughout the world.”
“It’s not only what she wants to do and what we want for her,” he added. “It’s our obligation. It’s our calling.”
And his lovely daughter’s passions extend far beyond music. She has also orchestrated efforts to help orphaned children in China find their forever home, just like she did.
“I need to help them because God helped me, and through God, I can help them,” says McKenzie.
Clinging to the promise in Jeremiah 29:11, she’s confident that God has a plan for each and every child who was abandoned like her:
“One of my favorite verses is Jeremiah 29:11, ‘I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future,’ and that verse means so much to me because it’s actually happening to me. God is with you, and he has a plan for every single one of you.”
