Music—especially singing—can heal our souls from the pain inflicted by life.
Alma 5:26 poses a poignant question: “If ye have experienced a change of heart, and if ye have felt to sing the song of redeeming love, I would ask, can ye feel so now?”
Several months ago, my answer to that question would have been “no.” Although I knew that song well, and my heart had undergone many changes in the past, it had hardened and I felt far away from my Savior’s redeeming love.
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One day at rehearsal for my university choir, my director had us sing “Behold the Wounds in Jesus’ Hands.” I focused on the technicality of the piece at first, but then I sang, “Come, open wide your broken heart / And let your Savior in!” I couldn’t stop the tears spilling from my eyes as I felt the weight of those words. I felt my Savior’s love working to heal all my hurt. I sang, “Your Savior takes you in His arms / And quiets all your fears” and was overwhelmed by the comfort and redemptive power of that truth.
In a CES fireside, Elder Russel M. Nelson testifies, “Music has power to provide spiritual nourishment. It has healing power.”
I experienced what Elder Nelson describes when he says, “Hymns move us to repentance and good works, build testimony and faith, comfort the weary, console the mourning, and inspire us to endure to the end.”
When other sources of healing fail, singing precious truths can help us to feel whole again, to be redeemed by the tender care of our Savior.
Read Elder Russell M. Nelson’s full talk “The Power and Protection of Worthy Music.”
Source: ChurchofJesusChrist.org
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—Abbi Clark, Latter-day Saint Insights
Find more insights
Learn more about how music helps us access the power of Christ’s Atonement by reading the Ensign article “The Healing Power of Hymns.”
Read more about how music can empower and protect us by reading the Latter-day Saint Insights article “How Worthy Music Can Bring Us Joy.”
Music has always brought such joy to my life. I’m so grateful for the hymns!