Good Vibrations & Borrowing Songs--Part 2

             Balloons are one way of “borrowing” songs through vibrations, but what about other means for those who are struggling?

            In the mid-1990s we went through some horrific experiences, throwing us into emotional turmoil. My husband Brian, who sang often before that, lost his song—as if it’d been sucked out of him. His guitar went into its case and collected dust.

            Not many years prior, Bill and Gloria Gaither created their Homecoming Series, bringing back hymns of hope and promise. We’d bought several of their cassettes and VHSs. How glad we were because, during that awful period when Brian’s song died and I cried daily, we listened repeatedly—borrowing those songs as God’s Holy Spirit ministered to us while we healed.

            When I shared with a dear friend, Pat, about Brian losing his song, she said, “Oh, Sarah, I understand. That happened to me also. I loved singing, but when I went through a divorce, my church said I could no longer be in the choir. I lost my song. When I found a new church, the music minister learned my situation and how I had loved to sing. He said, ‘Come sit amidst the choir, and we’ll surround you with our song until yours returns.’”

            And that’s what she did.

            I shared this beautiful account with another precious friend, who’d been widowed. Verna said, “That’s exactly how I felt when my husband died—like I’d never sing again.”

            Brian borrowed Gaither’s songs until his returned. Pat borrowed hers from choir members who surrounded her. And Verna? She loved driving and listened to music on rides to nowhere and back and eventually found her song again.

            These dear ones, however, weren’t the first to experience this. In the Old Testament of the Bible, we read about the Israelites who were taken captive and carried off to a strange land for 70 years.

“By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there, those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?” Psalm 137:1-4

            Reader, know God cares and understands when you’ve lost your song. I pray someone comes along who lends you theirs. Perhaps you’re the song-lender instead! May God direct you to someone who needs healing in their lives and can borrow yours for a while. 

Does Jesus care when my heart is pained too deeply for mirth or song;

As the burdens press, and the cares distress, and the way grows weary and long?

O yes, He cares—I know He cares! His heart is touched with my grief;

When the days are weary, the long nights dreary, I know my Savior cares. 

(Hymn, “Does Jesus Care” by Frank E. Graeff, 1916, Public Domain)

             (Gaither Homecoming share the above verses in this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-U5rKY6vtc&list=RDy-U5rKY6vtc&start_radio=1&rv=y-U5rKY6vtc&t=0 ) 

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