I had the most wonderful blessing today of singing in two Sacrament meetings accompanied by my wonderful mom on piano and a new friend Carey R. on violin. We did the number first in my ward and then in theirs, which meets in the same building just a few hours later. We had worked hard over the past several weeks and had figured out balance in the chapel. I feel that our hard work paid off, but I also felt the Lord's hand in this work. While you read, you can listen to the arrangement we did here: "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul"
About a month ago Brother H. in our ward asked me to do a musical number in church the next Sunday. I had returned recently from California where I heard a lady sing "Savior, Redeemer of My Soul" with piano accompaniment. The song stuck in my head and I knew it was familiar but couldn't remember why. Later I remembered that the YSA 6th stake did it for a Stake Conference that I helped with. I also knew that I should find that music and sing it sometime, so I went looking. I found a copy of the song with piano and optional choir accompaniment and gave the piano part to my neighbor Becky. We didn't get any rehearsal time all week, and on Thursday morning I woke up with absolutely no voice. Saturday morning I called Brother H to report that I was still croaking and wouldn't be able to sing. He arranged for my friend Danielle and her daughter to sing and they did a marvelous job, with a piece that exactly matched the talk by our Stake President at the meeting. I felt that the Lord must have wanted their song and my laryngitis came at just the right time - a tender mercy in a funny sort of way. We rescheduled my song and because of Stake Conference, Becky being out of town and other things, finally settled on November 10. But now again, Becky had a conflict. At that point I had also discovered a better version of the song with violin, piano and voice. I was walking with my mom to exercise and talking about it, and she suggested getting Carey, a new member of her ward, to play the violin. Within minutes of that conversation, she got a phone call asking her to do a number in her ward on November 10. Coincidence? I don't think so. We decided to do the number in both wards and get Carey to play with us. We rehearsed at Mom's house first, and at that point I knew we had a winner. We asked my friend Kathryn and then later my dad to come and listen as we rehearsed at the church so that we could get the balance right and see if the microphone was needed, etc. All was well, or so I thought, and then came the cough and chest congestion. It came shortly after the first rehearsal, over two weeks ago and I thought I'd be all over it by today, but as of two days ago (and even right now), I was still coughing. Some parts of the day would be all right, or even a whole day would be fairly good, but then it would return. Last night I asked Bryce to give me a Priesthood blessing so that I would be able to sing without frogginess in my voice or a fit of coughing. He did, and I did, and in both wards the song went beautifully. What an amazing blessing it is to have the Priesthood in my home. I'm very grateful for the talents that my Heavenly Father has blessed me with, and allowed me to use to bring His spirit into our meetings. It has been a most lovely day.
1 comment:
So glad it worked out! I might be interested in borrowing the music. :)
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