He lives to calm my troubled heart

By -
I love to sing. It is one of my most favorite things in the world to do. However, it can also be the scariest thing for me to do. As mentioned in the previous post, I sang the musical number during a church meeting tonight. I was asked earlier today if I would do it. Since it was last minute, I opted to sing I Know That My Redeemer Lives, because I had sung it previously when my sister reported her full-time mission.
As I was practicing with my accompanist before this meeting a couple months ago, I was ridiculously nervous. This was the largest crowd for which I had ever sung. As I was singing, I came to the line, "He lives to calm my troubled heart." I knew that was true. My Savior could bring peace to my soul. I said a silent prayer and asked for that blessing in my life. After that, I was able to sing freely.
Tonight, as I directed the opening hymn, my voice began to shake. My throat began to close, and I couldn't even sing part of the final verse. I was growing very anxious. I imagined myself standing to sing and finding that nothing would come out. I saw myself red with embarrassment, nervously walking off the stand and out the side door.
As I sat down during the opening prayer, I said another silent prayer in my heart. I asked the Lord to once again calm my troubled heart which was racing and about to leap out of my chest.
After the prayer, it was my turn to sing. Even as I was walking up to the pulpit, my heart was still racing. I had faith that the Lord would once again provide. Just as my accompanist played the first note, my anxiety left and I was filled with peace.
I was able to share my testimony through this song and again receive a witness of the Godhead.
Heavenly Father hears and answers our prayers. Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer. The Holy Ghost comforts us. With God, all things are possible.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Jeep's Wisdom

By -
As my mom was finishing her two Master's programs, she decided to reward her own hard work by purchasing her dream car--a bright red Jeep. Her Jeep is the fanciest car anyone in my family has ever owned. It has heated leather seats, power everything, radio/CD controls on the steering wheel, a sunroof, and many other things we had only seen in the movies. Her Jeep is also ridiculously smart. The Jeep's message board tells you which direction you are facing, how many miles until the gas tank is empty, and when to change the oil. I freaked out the day the message board told us the spare tire had low air pressure. How does the Jeep know that? Sure enough, when we checked it, the spare tire needed 8 psi. My mother and I were going for a ride in her fancy red Jeep. My mother was telling me that she was stressed, depressed, and overwhelmed. She asked me what she could do to gain control and find peace in her life. Before I could answer, the Jeep chimed in with an answer. We recognized...
Read more

One Among the Crowd

By -
I spoke in church today. My assigned topic was a talk given by Elder Dennis B. Neuenschwander in the April 2008 General Conference . I gave my talk immediately after singing "Close Enough to Touch" by Kenneth Cope. This woman, whose story is told briefly in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, had an issue of blood for 12 years. She had sought out numerous physicians and used all that she had to seek a cure. None had cured her; her condition was now worse. Her faith brought her to seek out Jesus. “For she said within herself, if I but touch his garment, I shall be whole.” 1 She pressed her way through the crowd that was following Jesus to touch the hem of His garment. Elder Neuenschwander in his recent conference talk described this crowd. “I picture the crowd itself. It must have been fairly large, as people were pressing in on Jesus. It might have even been a noisy crowd, as people pushed and shoved trying to get a better look at Him. I wonder why they were there. Most, I think, cam...
Read more

Aligning my will with God's will through prayer

By -
"As soon as we learn the true relationship in which we stand toward God (namely, God is our Father, and we are his children), then at once prayer becomes natural and instinctive on our part ( Matt. 7: 7-11 ). Many of the so-called difficulties about prayer arise from forgetting this relationship. Prayer is the act by which the will of the Father and the will of the child are brought into correspondence with each other. The object of prayer is not to change the will of God, but to secure for ourselves and for others blessings that God is already willing to grant, but that are made conditional on our asking for them. Blessings require some work or effort on our part before we can obtain them. Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." I gave the closing prayer in a church meeting not long ago. Since then, I've been thinking a lot about prayer. I know God hears and answers prayers. I testify of that. As I prayed at ...
Read more