Music is a Gift from Him!

So I know I say this a lot.....but Sunday is truly my favorite day of the week! 

I always learn such valuable lessons and it is just a great day to start off the week.

Sure enough today was no different.

Church was amazing, like usual, and I heard many lessons that I needed to.

However, one of my major highlights comes from an experience I had after church.

I realized my true passion for music and the Spirit that comes from playing it!

There are a couple girls from my branch that I accompanied when they sang in church a few weeks ago.

Well, both of them are very musical. Aside from singing they play instruments, like the violin and flute. Well, after practicing with these girls to sing in sacrament they decided we should all get together one day and just play hymns on our instruments. 

Today was the lucky day, and it was an amazing experience. 

I have been playing the piano for almost eleven years, but I wouldn't call myself extremely talented at it, and I never really have the opportunity to play with other instruments. 

So it was really neat to be able to do that today.

Not only did it inspire me to practice the piano more, which is another New Year's Resolution of mine, but it also strengthened my testimony of the power of music.

I have been touched by listening to others perform church songs, but today was actually the first time I really felt what I was playing and have been touched by the music I was playing. 

Since it was all instruments, no one sang, but I thought of the words of the hymns as we played them and I couldn't help but tear up.

I was really impacted by the messages of the songs we were playing and was became so grateful for my ability to play the piano and share those messages through music. 

It was truly amazing to realize that in a sense I was sharing my testimony, what I know to be true, through music.

It really opened my eyes to the importance of developing the talents we have and what can come from doing so! It also made me feel a little guilty for when I was relief society pianist. I realized that I kind of just played the piano because I was asked to, but I wasn't really into it. However, I realized tonight that had I really thought about the messages of the hymns and the importance of them, my attitude and experience could have been so much different and more of a blessing. Although I can't go back and redo my calling, I decided that from now I every time I play any church songs I will think of what message the song provides. I know there will be much joy in doing so!

After having this wonderful experience, I started thinking of a Hilary Weeks song that I really like. It is called, "A Gift From Him," and it talks about how music is a gift from our Heavenly Father and is a way for Him to touch us. One part of the chorus really stands out to me. It says,

"Like a window to our soul, where He enters in. Music is a gift from Him."

That is my testimony of music! It is a way for Heavenly Father to communicate with us and to touch our hearts! 

Music is a gift from Him!

*Scripture thought: D&C 25:12 "For my soul delighteth in the song of the heart; yea, the song of the righteous is a prayer unto me, and it shall be answered with a blessing upon their heads."