There have been many times in my work at the Hospice where clearly something supernatural is taking place. I’m writing to capture my own thoughts and try to process what happened yesterday with one particular family. The basic gist of what went on is that while playing familiar praise and worship songs, I moved into spontaneous song writing for the client. During that he was joined by other believers who were supporting him, one girl was singing in great harmony, there was a man singing great bass parts and another man studying the bible and singing along quietly. The room was dimly lit, the weather outside was quite dismal but there was a glow from the hardwood and the people in the room that had a warmth to it.
I’ll try to explain the room in detail. While playing the room became brighter by approximately 30%, the client was laying on his bed in the middle, I was to his left, there were two men to his right and one girl at his feet, later we were joined by another worker who sang beside me. There is a window in the room behind the guys but it wasn’t providing much light. It was a very heavy rain and overcast day. There was a single lamp in the room at the head of the bed where I was standing or trying to stand, there was such a heavy feeling like something pressing on me that it was difficult to stand. It was most noticeable that the room was getting brighter during spontaneous worship. There were noticeable sounds as well. The facility seemed very quiet outside of the room, there were people coming by to quietly listen to what was taking place. The client was laughing off and on, and had a great peace about him. My guitar really filled the room nicely, but it was the warmth of the girls vocals that really set the sonic feel in the room.
During “Jesus lover of my soul” the client had raised his hands when he could. Surprisingly enough he had never heard that song before, and he absolutely loved it. The girl who was singing had wrote out the words for him. She explained to me that she used that song as her prayer for many years when she first became a believer. The song meant so much for her and was a great source of strength when she was going through rough times.
When I arrived at the Hospice that morning I felt like I had little to offer. Earlier that week I was given a hard time by some staff at another facility during a session they said multiple times “What do you mean you don’t know that song, everyone knows that.” I felt like I knew nothing after they had unintentionally badgered me throughout my session. At the Hospice upon arrival, I sat at the computer to print up a couple songs before going to see clients. One staff jokingly said “oh, your cheating!” but there was another staff who came along and said “Joe, God told me to come over and encourage you, you have a lot to offer you just need to go out there and release what God has given you.” I had the song “Jesus lover of my soul” in my head so I just went to the first room with that.
I probably played a good 8 or so older songs by memory for that client, plus quite a bit of spontaneous song. All with no striving, no borders, and no hesitation. God did something very special for the client, the staff, the visitors and me. Really it serves to prove the point, God is the Music Therapist and it’s our faith that connects us to the great things we see, feel, and hear Him doing.
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