Happy February! And Happy Scripture Memory Team day!
I had the sweetest experience of being sung to that goes hand-in-hand with this month’s verse, so here is my love song story:
When I woke up, on the jukebox in my mind, a song dropped from my memories of being a child in the country church where my mom and dad would take us when we visited family here in the mountains. As clear as a bell, I heard my Aunt Marie’s strong alto voice singing “I have returned to the God of my father.” She sang several verses including the one that says, “I have returned to the God of my mother.” As I went through the day, I kept pushing the replay on the internal storage carousel of my aunt singing till I finally I reached out to her with a message about the song. She called me back that evening and read the words to me that she had found on music in her piano bench and ended up singing the song as I just cried and cried.
It wasn’t even Valentine’s Day; but I got the most heartfelt rendition of a love song sang to me as if I were the only one in the booth beside the jukebox. Except, I was a young girl in that country church near the creek where my father was baptized, hearing her distinct voice reverberating and resounding off the hewn pews and creaking floor.
She shared that she and Uncle Bill and Susan use to sing this song together. Said she didn’t have all the verses – because I’d asked specifically about the one about returning to the God of my mother. She said if I could give her some time that she would find it for me and that she may even have a cassette tape. She then asked me if I wanted her to sing it again and me, awash in tears, I declined because she had not felt well and had been to the doctor that day and she replied something along the lines of this month’s Scripture memory verse and though her flesh may be feeble, her intent to bless me was strong. And without skipping a beat, she lovingly replied, “Well, let me sing the one verse to you about the God of my mother.”
And she sang, again.
More tears flowing freely. She stopped once and said she didn’t remember the words, hummed and picked back up with “He’s Jesus to me, eternal deity, praise His name, I have returned.”
The singing ministered to me in such a beautiful way. From a young girl in a country church, to a woman in the middle of life, blessed by an alto aunt whose God is the strength of her heart. Valentine’s Day came early and it didn’t include flowers and chocolates; but a song.
Is it a love song or a love story – either way God gets the glory. Hallelujah. And amen.
Feel free to screenshot Psalm 73:26 and memorize with me!