A Blessing in Disguise

Hello again! Happy autumn, 2002! I hope this finds you and your loved ones having a wonderful year and that you feel the Lord’s blessings in your life. It is good to be back, and I salute Michelle for her hard work and for keeping her priorities in order! :)

I have had an interesting last few months, but the most special part for me will be what my story is about this month. I hope you will sit back and focus on what I am about to tell you... it has all been a true blessing in disguise!

The last two-three years have not been the easiest in the world for my husband and me financially. We had the misfortune of seeing the small convenience store we had owned for 16 years go “under,” and it was my music work and his income tax work that was our main source of income during that time.

During the worst of our financial nightmare, about two years ago a lady named Eva who I was acquainted with (and had always looked up to) came to the restaurant where I was playing for the Sunday brunch. I had not seen her in several years, and it was my first time to see her after she had lost her son... he had been in a deep depression and despite all efforts to help him overcome his illness, he had taken his own life. I knew she had been through a lot!

She asked me to play the song, AMAZING GRACE, which I gladly did. She then asked me to play another gospel hymn that was special to her, and I obliged. Then she asked me if I had ever thought of recording a CD project of slow and comforting gospel songs. She said if I ever did, to be sure and let her know, for that would be something soothing to her and would help her fall to sleep easier at night.

I remember smiling and saying I’d keep that in mind, but at the same time I also was thinking to myself how unlikely it was, due to our financial woes, that I would be doing any CD’s for quite a long time, since that would cost us money we didn’t have to get it done. But I guess I forgot how BIG our God truly is, and apparently I didn’t talk about the CD to Him at that time.

Weeks and months and eventually a couple of years went by, and one day my husband told me it was time for me to consider recording a CD. I had been playing music professionally in our region for a long time, and he thought a CD was the right thing to do. At the time, I thought he must have a magic wand, for I didn’t see the money on the table for the expense of making a recording, and I didn’t know how we could do it, but he continued to encourage me and “insist” on me making plans for it. He would say, “Have you started the list of songs for your CD yet?” Or, “How many songs do you plan to put on your CD?”

About the same time that my Jim started encouraging me to make a CD, a precious cyber friend who we all know and love, our “own” Michelle Jones at Blessings for Life, began telling me I ought to build a business web site and sell CD’s online. She continued to talk to me about it, saying she would help me out in building and hosting my site, giving me reasonable rates, and I kept telling her I didn’t HAVE a CD to sell online! She then said I needed to make one! (She had no idea Jim was telling me the same thing!) That was a total of TWO people telling me to make a CD... so I took the plunge and with prayer, I recorded the CD on faith.

The hardest decision in making a CD is to decide what songs to record! I play a diverse style of music, from soft love ballads, to old rock and roll, to Floyd Cramer style country music, to big band...but my first love had always been the gospel music I grew up playing and singing in my Momma and Daddy’s little country church. So it seemed only appropriate and natural that I would do a gospel CD for my very first one.

Needless to say, I began working on a song list, and with Jim’s help, we had a list of about 18 songs, and I told him all along I wanted my CD to be longer than the average CD of only 10 or 11 songs, but probably no more than 15.

One day as I was driving to the next town for an appointment, I was thinking about the possible song list for the CD, and the next thing I knew I was marking out songs I was wanting to use and began putting OTHER songs in their place. I had no idea why I did that, but I felt the strong urge to remove the faster songs and put all slower hymns and old gospel favorites.

That is when I recalled my conversation with the lady in the restaurant and her request of a CD of slow gospel songs, and it came to my mind that was exactly what I was doing, and then a title for the project came to my mind.....SONGS OF FAITH AND COMFORT. All of this took place as I was driving, if you recall, and you cannot imagine my excitement as my heart swelled with sudden enthusiasm! For the first time, I started thinking maybe this was a true possibility!

All I can tell you is, the CD was a “God thing.” I feel that God “gave” me the songs to use, and that He gave me the title to use, too. He also put the “right” people in my journey to getting it done. And as I continued to work toward getting things prepared to record the CD, I could not get the lady off my mind who had lost her son and had requested a CD of slow, soothing gospel songs.

As I designed the CD cover that I wanted to use, I knew I wanted an angel on it. I worked up the ideal graphic and then it came time to type the “dedication” for the inside cover. All I could think about was how much the grieving mother had been on my mind through all of this, so I knew I “had” to dedicate the CD to her. You must understand, she is not someone I run into very often, for we live quite a few miles apart.

I had it in my mind that I should contact her first and somehow “alert” her that I was using her name in dedicating the CD to her, in honor and memory of her son. I knew she would understand what I was saying by putting her name there, but I also considered that she would think I was a “nut,” since we did not have close contact. Yet in my heart I knew it was what I was “supposed” to do......another “God thing.” But it turns out that she was honored and that it had brought her a special degree of comfort for this to take place, and that was a relief to me.

I chose a studio owned by a good friend. When I went into the studio to record the CD, I had a very special and emotion-filled experience. I gave my total focus to God and asked His blessings upon it all, that if He could use me for a tool in His kingdom, that I was ready to do whatever I could for Him. The first session was hard for me, but it got

easier after that.

There are many expenses incurred in getting a CD recorded and ready for the market, and one expense I planned upon was getting what is known as “mechanical rights” to use the copyrighted songs. To my surprise and joy, many of the songs on my project turned out to be what is known as “public domain” songs, which means I did not have to “buy” the mechanical rights to use the P.D. songs. That was an unexpected blessing in itself!! That way it was not as expensive to get the rights to the other songs covered.

The CD has been on the market almost three weeks at the time of this writing, it was advertised in a national online newsletter the second week, and already I am getting some nice responses and reviews from the people who go to my new site, themusiclady.biz, and listen to the sound bites to four of the songs. I have had quite a few orders already, and I’m getting comments from others that they plan to give me orders for Christmas presents. Locally the CD is getting a good response, too. People tell me it touches their hearts.

That is my only prayer, that if it can stir the right emotions and help others to feel the love and comfort and closeness of God through the music, then it is worth it all.

Yes, blessings can come totally unexpectedly and can certainly be in “disguise.” I never dreamed that us losing our store and going through the trauma of bankruptcy could be such a blessing! But it was through God bringing us to our “knees” at a time like that that has put me and my Jim where God wants us! He put the “right” people in my path, and I feel very thankful for the encouragement I was given to take the step of faith to record the CD, and I thank God for His blessings upon it all.