Paige Collins
11 min read ⭑
“Whether I’m writing, producing or simply encouraging someone to pay attention to their dreams, my obsession is the same: awakening hearts to the voice of God. Because when we invite his voice and presence into our stories, our work and even our sleep — it changes everything!”
Paige Collins has spent 20 years of her life crafting inspiring messages as a writer, media strategist, publicist and, most recently, a film producer and screenwriter. A founding partner of Icon Media Group, she has helped promote uplifting Christian and family-friendly films like Little Women, War Room, Overcomer and God’s Not Dead. She also produces movies herself through her film and television development company, Honeybee Entertainment. She’s currently working on Arise, a film featuring the biblical prophetess and Israelite leader, Deborah. She also recently released her first book, The Awaken Dream Journal, which provides believers with a biblical lens to interpret their dreams, along with space to process them with God through journaling.
Today, she’s opening up about the prophetic dream that kick-started her film Arise and led her to create Honeybee Entertainment. You’ll also enjoy her heartwarming stories about life-changing hospitality, God speaking to her in the most unlikely of places, the debilitating lies that trace back to childhood and the simple truth of being fully known and fully loved by God.
QUESTION #1: ACQUAINT
Food is always about more than food; it’s also about home and people and love. So how does a go-to meal at your favorite hometown restaurant reveal the true you behind your web bio?
I’ve lived in a lot of places — San Diego, Austin, Omaha, Dallas — but I’m a Southern girl at heart. Franklin, Tennessee, is home, and it’s where everything slows down long enough to remind me what really matters.
As much as I love food — everything from Michelin-starred dining and Omakase to the kind of unmarked hole-in-the-wall spots only locals know — my favorite meal isn’t about the cuisine at all. It’s about hospitality. On a recent trip to Israel, I was deeply moved by the Middle Eastern way of hosting — how meals aren’t performances but sacred spaces for connection. That shifted me to begin prioritizing hospitality over entertainment.
Now, my favorite “restaurant” is my own dining room table. The conversations that unfold there are different from the ones that happen in a busy restaurant with interruptions and noise and servers passing by. People often tell me that my house feels peaceful — that there’s something about the atmosphere that seems to cultivate connection. Around my table, conversations feel deep, there’s freedom to share our dreams, friendship bonds are cemented, and we laugh until we cry!
So while I’ll always love a perfect-tasting menu, nothing compares to the sacred simplicity of breaking bread at home. Food is just the doorway; it’s the people who make it holy.
Caleb Wright; Unsplash
QUESTION #2: REVEAL
What “nonspiritual” activity have you found to be quite spiritual, after all? What quirky proclivity, out-of-the-way interest or unexpected pursuit refreshes your soul?
It might sound funny, but one of the most normal yet sacred spaces for me is the shower. It’s such a basic part of the day — something you check off your list before diving into the daily routines of work, kids and adulting — but it’s become a real place of peace for me.
There’s something about the warmth, the white noise of the water and the way the world becomes quiet for a few minutes that seems to open my heart and clear my mind. I’ve noticed that when I’m wrestling with something or even hitting creative writer’s block, jumping in the shower somehow unlocks it. Ideas start to flow again, and I find clarity I couldn’t reach sitting at my desk. I’ve heard audibly from the Lord many times there.
It always amazes me how God meets me there — in the most common setting, in the middle of a mundane routine. It’s a reminder that he doesn’t need us to set the perfect conditions in order for him to speak. Sometimes, we just need to be still long enough to listen.
QUESTION #3: CONFESS
Every superhero has a weakness; every human, too. We’re just good at faking it. But who are we kidding? We’re all broken and in this thing together. So what’s your kryptonite, and how do you confront its power?
When I think of kryptonite, I don’t think of weakness as much as the lie beneath it. I believe everyone carries one: a lie we first hear in childhood, crafted by the enemy to directly oppose our purpose. It’s subtle, but it shapes so much of how we move through the world. I often ask people, “What’s the lie that’s followed you most of your life? Because if you trace it back, it usually sits in opposition to the truth of who you really are.”
For me, that lie came early. I was 5, running half-dressed through my aunt’s house looking for my Wonder Woman underoos — “Wonderoos” as I called them — before bed. I tore down the hallway feeling invincible until I burst into a living room full of teenagers from her youth group. They all started laughing at me. I froze. In that instant, shame entered the room, and the enemy whispered a lie I would battle for years: you’re small, insignificant and nothing but a joke.
The little girl who wanted to be Wonder Woman — the one who felt bold and free and strong — started second-guessing herself. I became quiet, cautious, insecure. And I carried that tension for decades: a longing to be courageous and seen, tangled with the fear of being exposed or ridiculed.
Quite honestly, it took until I was in my late 30s before the Lord healed that little girl in me with a word. Taking me back to that moment when I was 5 and tracing the origin of the lie, he showed me that I have always been his “wonder” and that even then, running through that house, I was in pursuit of the wild and wonderful calling on my life.
The old whisper still shows up sometimes. But instead of agreeing with it, I pause and trace it back to its source. I picture that little girl — barefoot, wild, full of joy — and I ask God to remind me what was true before the lie ever entered the room. That practice has become part of my healing.
QUESTION #4: FIRE UP
Tell us about your toil. How are you investing your professional time right now? What’s your current obsession? And why should it be ours?
Right now, a lot of my creative energy is poured into helping people recognize that God speaks — often, he speaks while we sleep. My book, “The Awaken Dream Journal” was born out of my own journey of learning to understand my dreams. For years, I brushed off my dreams as random until, one night, the sound of my own voice woke me up — I was praying aloud, asking God for an interpretation for a dream I’d just had. That moment rocked me. I knew God was speaking to me in dreams, and I began listening.
As I started journaling my dreams and asking for wisdom in interpreting them, I started noticing patterns. My dreams were full of instructions, warnings and promises. That season was deeply transformative for me, and it inspired me to create a tool that could help others experience the same. The journal isn’t just a place to record dreams; it’s a guide to interpretation, through a biblical lens.
That journey also became the seed for Honeybee Entertainment, the film and TV development company I founded after God called me, in a dream, to write the story of Deborah from the book of Judges as a feature film. Her courage and prophetic leadership mirror what I see happening now: women awakening to their callings, using creativity and conviction to bring light into dark spaces.
So whether I’m writing, producing or simply encouraging someone to pay attention to their dreams, my obsession is the same: awakening hearts to the voice of God. Because when we invite his voice and presence into our stories, our work and even our sleep — it changes everything!
QUESTION #5: BOOST
Whether we’re cashiers or CEOs, contractors or customer service reps, we all need God’s love flowing into us and back out into the world. How does the Holy Spirit invigorate your work? And how do you know it’s God when it happens?
I can usually tell it’s God when an idea comes that feels lighter and easier than my own effort — something I could never have forced. I also notice that the idea almost bubbles up from inside, vs dropping down from my mind. The Holy Spirit is the author of creativity, and God-ideas tend to overflow out of that intimacy. He breathes color into my imagination and peace into my process.
When I’m writing, producing or creating in other ways, there’s usually a point when I hit a wall — when what I’m doing starts to feel like self-effort instead of the flow of anointing. That’s usually when I stop, worship, pray and recenter my focus on Jesus. If I don’t sense that creative ease return, I walk away for a while. I’ve learned that forcing creativity rarely bears fruit.
I felt that vividly when God gave me the dream that ultimately launched my company, Honeybee Entertainment. In the dream, I was on the set of a film I had written about “the origin of the honeybee.” I awoke with a clear call to pursue writing a film — but what did the honeybee mean? For weeks, the story of Deborah from the book of Judges had been burning in my heart … but it was only later that same morning that I learned that the name Deborah means “honeybee.”
The dream wasn’t just inspiration; it was instruction — clear, undeniable and bigger than me. I wrote from obedience, and the script flowed freely and beautifully. I knew the words were flowing from his heart to mine. His ideas are clear, peaceful and often require courage to pursue.
The Holy Spirit doesn’t just help me create; he helps me create with purpose. Every script, every conversation, every creative endeavor is an opportunity to partner with him — to make something that represents a part of him to the world.
QUESTION #6: inspire
Scripture and tradition beckon us into the rich and varied habits that open our hearts to the presence of God. So let us in. Which spiritual practice is working best for you in this season?
In this season, the practice that’s meant the most to me is early morning stillness. Before anything or anyone begins pulling at me, I get up while it’s still dark, make coffee and sit with the Lord. No music, no noise — just quiet.
Those first moments of the day feel uncluttered and honest. I don’t rush into prayer or try to “make” something happen spiritually. I just sit, breathe and acknowledge his presence. Sometimes, I’ll read my Bible or write a few lines in my journal, but usually I just listen. Oftentimes, I catch a beautiful sunrise!
This practice grounds me before the day sets in. I feel the peace of Christ — like a calm that settles everything inside of me. It’s simple, but it’s become the most sacred part of my day. God isn’t waiting for me to do something impressive or manufacture a moment. It’s more about “withness” — sharing space and time together, just the two of us.
QUESTION #7: FOCUS
Looking backward, considering the full sweep of your unique faith journey and all you encountered along the way, what top three resources stand out to you? What changed reality and changed your heart?
Looking back over my faith journey, three resources stand out as truly transformative.
First, I was introduced to the ministry and teachings of Damon Thompson, from Homestead Church in Mobile, Alabama, about four years ago. I stream his Friday evening services every week and frequently listen (and re-listen) to his podcast. His teachings on “beloved identity” have helped me see the gospel not as a call to perform for God’s approval, but as an invitation to rest in the fact that I already have it. That revelation has impacted how I pray, parent, create and lead.
Second, and related, are the writings of Dr. C. Baxter Kruger, especially The Great Dance and Jesus and the Undoing of Adam. Baxter’s writings have opened my eyes to the relational nature of the Trinity — Father, Son and Spirit moving together in perfect love and union, and bringing us into that same rhythm.
And finally, I’ve added the Mirror Study Bible to my list of Bible translations. Its translation and commentary draw out the depth of God’s affection for us in a profoundly beautiful way. I so enjoy sitting with this translation and letting the words wash over me.
Together, these voices and resources have reshaped my perspective of God — replacing the “Jesus as good cop and the Father as bad cop” mentality with an understanding that the Father, Son and Spirit are equally mesmerized by me, as any good parent would be. The old religious mindsets have been silenced and replaced with the simple, liberating truth that the baseline is that we are the righteousness of Jesus. Fully known, fully loved and fully at home in him — no striving, no spiritual measuring sticks, no performance required.
Certain things can be godsends, helping us survive, even thrive, in our fast-paced world. Does technology ever help you this way? Has an app ever boosted your spiritual growth? If so, how?
I wouldn’t say any app has made my faith deeper, but a few make it easier to stay connected. I use Spotify a lot for worship music — it’s usually what’s playing in the background when I’m working or getting ready in the morning or when I’m driving my son to school. I also use the YouVersion Bible app when I need quick access to Scripture and want to toggle between translations. It’s obviously practical and convenient, and I’m thankful for that. Of course, I stream services on YouTube and engage with my favorite Bible teachers there or even watch Sunday morning church if we opt to stay home.
But overall, my real growth happens away from technology. The apps are great tools, but they’re not the source. The times that change me most are usually the quiet ones with no phone and no noise.
QUESTION #8: dream
God’s continually stirring new things in each of us. So give us the scoop! What’s beginning to stir in you but not yet fully awakened? What can we expect from you in the future?
It’s a new season, both creatively and spiritually. A lot of it centers around Honeybee Entertainment — the production company I founded to tell stories that elevate the voices of women of faith in film and TV. I sense God stretching the vision beyond what I originally imagined. I’m developing several film and TV projects that feel purposeful and different from anything I’ve done before — real female-driven stories of courage and faith, written with the complexity these dynamic characters deserve. That balance matters to me.
At the same time, I’m well into the release of “The Awaken Dream Journal” and encouraging people to learn to hear God through their dreams. That message — learning to recognize his voice in unexpected places — is a thread I’m continuing to pull, and it connects everything I’m doing right now.
But with new vision comes new vulnerability. I’m aware of the fear that can show up when you start building something bigger than yourself — the voice that asks, “Who do you think you are?” or “Did God really say … ?” I’m learning to quiet that voice by remembering the one thing that’s constant: if God authored the dream, it’s not my job to make it happen, just to stay faithful, available and steward what he puts in front of me.
So what’s stirring is trust, obedience, stewardship and the courage to keep saying yes.
Has God ever spoken to you in a dream? Many biblical figures would raise their hands and say yes.
Jacob dreamed of a ladder connecting heaven and earth, Joseph (Old Testament) dreamed God would put him in a position of authority, Daniel had a dream of the Final Judgment, and Joseph (New Testament) was told in a dream to marry Mary even though she was pregnant and, later, to flee to Egypt with his family to save young Jesus’ life.
In these examples, we see God using people’s dreams to divulge his purposes for the world, to warn of danger and to impart callings — and always to point hearts to the true Messiah, Jesus Christ.
What else do these examples teach you about how God communicates with his people? In what ways do you want to grow in hearing God’s voice?
Paige Collins is a lifelong dreamer, visionary entrepreneur and the founding partner of Icon Media Group, a premier PR firm specializing in faith and family entertainment. With over 25 years of strategic communications expertise, Paige has spearheaded high-impact publicity campaigns for major faith-based film releases, as well as for kingdom-driven nonprofits and brands, producing red-carpet premieres, intimate press conferences and behind-the-scenes media experiences. Beyond publicity, Paige is a multifaceted creative professional, serving as both film producer and screenwriter, leading her own film and television development company, Honeybee Entertainment — a calling she received in a dream.