Yesterday, I took a group to go Hospital singing. We were having a rough time on the second floor. We were being told 'no' or 'not today' by every person. I was feeling sick to my stomach. Here I had gotten 15 people to give up their precious time on a Sunday afternoon and we weren't even able to do what we came to do! We got to sing to one person on the second floor. Then, I felt like we needed to go to the third floor.
Realize that I have been going hospital singing for eight months now almost every Sunday. I had never been to the third floor before. But yesterday, we needed to go there.
My goodness. It is indescribable the events that went down on that third floor. I am going to try to write them down for my own sake, but I will not do them justice.
First we visited Lynn. He was an old man sitting in a dark room. I don't even remember what songs we sang, but afterward we just started talking to him. He had such a strong testimony. One person asked "What advice would you give to us?" Lynn said 'Stay LDS'. All of us laughed at this simple phrase, but really it was great advice. I will talk more about it later.
Then we went to Billi's room. She was such a sweet spirit. She wanted to sing with us, so I gave her my hymn book. We sang Be Still My Soul first. The spirit was so strong. As we are singing, I see a lady in a purple dress pass by the room once. Then, the same lady passes by the room again. She stops and just watches us for a minute or two. Then she walked away. I knew that we needed to find her. We left Bill's room and immediately I had three different people come up to me and say that we needed to find the woman who had passed by. We all felt drawn to her. I went up to one of the nurses and asked where we could find this lady. She told me a room number and off our group went.
We got to the door. It was closed. Our typical rule is that we don't knock on doors because the people are wanting privacy. I stood there for a second, not knowing what to do. I decided I needed to knock. A little old man came to the door. We asked if we could come in and sing to them. He told us his wife was in the bathroom, but invited our group right on in. As the woman came out of the bathroom, she saw our group and just started crying. She was so grateful that we had come to her room.
Honestly, we probably would not have made it to that door. It was the very last one in the opposite direction of where we were going. But through the promptings and help from the nurses, we were able to visit Leah. Leah had a brain tumor the size of a baseball. Her husband told us that she had spent more of their married life in the hospital than out of it. He also told us that she had not acted like herself as much as she did that day in over four years.
We sang three songs to Leah and her husband. She would cry, then her husband would see her crying, then Linnea would start crying, and then I would start crying. Everyone in the room was holding back tears. I really believe that Leah is the reason we went hospital singing that day. Leah's sweet spirit and strong faith demonstrated to me the importance of the advice that we had received from Lynn only moments before.
"Stay LDS"
I am so grateful for my faith and my religion. Does being LDS mean that everything is going to be easy? No. God promises us that we will have trials to overcome. That is the reason we came to Earth after all!
I cannot even imagine the pain that Leah and her husband have been through over the past 60 years. But through their faith, they have made it. They know that they are sealed for eternity and that is what makes it okay. Moments are difficult, but the big picture shows us so much more.
Come what may and love it!
Realize that I have been going hospital singing for eight months now almost every Sunday. I had never been to the third floor before. But yesterday, we needed to go there.
My goodness. It is indescribable the events that went down on that third floor. I am going to try to write them down for my own sake, but I will not do them justice.
First we visited Lynn. He was an old man sitting in a dark room. I don't even remember what songs we sang, but afterward we just started talking to him. He had such a strong testimony. One person asked "What advice would you give to us?" Lynn said 'Stay LDS'. All of us laughed at this simple phrase, but really it was great advice. I will talk more about it later.
Then we went to Billi's room. She was such a sweet spirit. She wanted to sing with us, so I gave her my hymn book. We sang Be Still My Soul first. The spirit was so strong. As we are singing, I see a lady in a purple dress pass by the room once. Then, the same lady passes by the room again. She stops and just watches us for a minute or two. Then she walked away. I knew that we needed to find her. We left Bill's room and immediately I had three different people come up to me and say that we needed to find the woman who had passed by. We all felt drawn to her. I went up to one of the nurses and asked where we could find this lady. She told me a room number and off our group went.
We got to the door. It was closed. Our typical rule is that we don't knock on doors because the people are wanting privacy. I stood there for a second, not knowing what to do. I decided I needed to knock. A little old man came to the door. We asked if we could come in and sing to them. He told us his wife was in the bathroom, but invited our group right on in. As the woman came out of the bathroom, she saw our group and just started crying. She was so grateful that we had come to her room.
Honestly, we probably would not have made it to that door. It was the very last one in the opposite direction of where we were going. But through the promptings and help from the nurses, we were able to visit Leah. Leah had a brain tumor the size of a baseball. Her husband told us that she had spent more of their married life in the hospital than out of it. He also told us that she had not acted like herself as much as she did that day in over four years. We sang three songs to Leah and her husband. She would cry, then her husband would see her crying, then Linnea would start crying, and then I would start crying. Everyone in the room was holding back tears. I really believe that Leah is the reason we went hospital singing that day. Leah's sweet spirit and strong faith demonstrated to me the importance of the advice that we had received from Lynn only moments before.
"Stay LDS"
I am so grateful for my faith and my religion. Does being LDS mean that everything is going to be easy? No. God promises us that we will have trials to overcome. That is the reason we came to Earth after all!
I cannot even imagine the pain that Leah and her husband have been through over the past 60 years. But through their faith, they have made it. They know that they are sealed for eternity and that is what makes it okay. Moments are difficult, but the big picture shows us so much more.
Come what may and love it!
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