One Voice

When I was living in California, I was told about an upcoming fireside at the Oakland Temple. Gladys Knight and her family were going to come and tell about their conversion stories. At the time, I had been dating a non-member hottie from the after-school program at the middle school where I taught. He was Baptist and had asked me a lot about the church.  We had a lot of great discussions. I invited him to go with me because it was a perfect missionary experience and also a great way for him to get past his hang-ups about "African-Americans" not being able to be members of the church until recently. He didn't want to have anything to do with a church where he felt like he wasn't wanted or was just there for pity.

We went to the fireside and I was deeply moved and inspired by Sister Knight's words and by her whole family's story of faith and acceptance and love for the Savior. Jeff was not so impressed, or at least he didn't say much about it. I left with a stronger testimony of the "good news" of the gospel, the Savior's atonement and of how important missionary work is. She sang some songs and had others there who sang. It completely reinforced my testimony of the power of music. The spirit was so strong. At that time in my life, music was my release and expression for every emotion I felt. Everything was so intense during those times. Ah, the drama of youth....

Jeff and I broke up a while later, mainly because of our different lifestyles. He was one of the most considerate, caring, thoughtful gentlemen I have known and it was making it very difficult for me to know what to do with our relationship. We would break up and still hang out and then be back together and eventually I would break up with him again because I knew it wouldn't go anywhere and wasn't the ending I wanted for myself.  He really was such an amazing guy.

One day, I was driving home from wherever and I was listening to Celine Dion. Jeff and I were still together but it was eating at me to know what to do.  Would the plan be for me to meet this amazing guy and just hope he would convert so we could get more serious?  Or was it to enjoy time with him but not have a future together?  At the time, "Let's Talk About Love" was one of my favorite albums of Celine's. The song "Love is On the Way" was about to start playing in the background as I was driving down Ygnacio Blvd. but in my mind, I was praying for help to know what I should do about Jeff. I had started my prayer over twice and kept getting distracted by the music. By now, the song had begun playing and I started arguing with myself about turning the music off so I could concentrate and feel the spirit. I reached for the knob twice to turn it off but kept leaving it on.  I had started my prayer for the third time when suddenly, I realized what I was listening to...

"Waking up alone
in a room that still reminds me.
My heart has got to learn to forget.
Starting on my own,
With every step
I'm getting stronger.
This is not the time for regret.
Cause I don't need to hang on to heartache
When there's so much of life left to live.
Love is on the way
On wings of angels
I know it's true
I feel it coming soon.
Love is on the way
Time is turning the pages
I don't know when
But love will find me again."

I was crying, heartbroken and realizing that the Spirit was answering my prayer through the music and through that specific song. I understood that I needed to let go of Jeff and start getting stronger on my own. I didn't need the heartache of breaking up and getting back together and reasoning with myself on why I should or shouldn't be with him. I couldn't compromise what I believed because in the end, he wasn't the one for me.  I finally realized that.  It was an extremely difficult thing to do but I told him we couldn't be together anymore and didn't talk to him again.

And then I met Rhett a month later. 

I'm not even exaggerating. We didn't start dating for another few months and there were even other guys here and there between meeting him and going out with him but this was one of the most powerful experiences I have had with music. I have had MANY other experiences before and since then but nothing compared to this.

So why am I even thinking about all of this? Well, I just found Gladys Knight's and the Saints Unified Voices album, "One Voice" in the garage and have been listening to it today. It is soulful, rhythmic and SO not like the LDS music that most of us know. It has a great gospel feel like you find in a Baptist church and it brings back a lot of memories. That was my memory today.  I love the power of music.

Meridian Magazine wrote an article about Gladys and her choir. Read more about it here
and listen to some of the songs that I think are pretty cool below.

I Am A Child Of God

(I edited this one and started it right when the choir comes in)

Ok, that's all I could get to work.  They won't upload!  Who knows a better way to upload audio!??