SueAnn Porter

Last Sunday my husband and I took our seat in church next to the large Bose speaker. Although doctors refuse to sell me a hearing aid, I don’t hear very well especially if there is background noise like children screaming. I watch TV with the closed captions on, which is extremely handy for watching anything on the BBC, by the way. 🙂

If you’ve ever spoken to someone wearing headphones, they answer very loudly. They lose the perception of how loud their voice is because of the sound in their ears. I’m careful when sitting next to the speaker that I don’t speak or sing too loudly. I don’t want to make a spectacle of myself.

During church service, I whispered the prayers and songs. Except, it seems for the very last song.

It was an old hymn. I closed my eyes and remembered thirty years ago, when we used to sing that song at an old church in another town. I was swept up in the memories of old friends and neglected to keep my voice at a whisper.

Service ended and Mr. Porter and I discussed going to the lobby for a cup of coffee. The music leader walked over to us. “Hi,” she said as she extended her hand. “I heard your beautiful singing and I thought, ‘Where is that voice coming from?’ I turned to my sister and asked her, ‘Did you hear that voice?’ ‘Yes, of course I heard that voice.'”

“Who me?”

“You should join our choir. We meet on Wednesday nights.”

My mouth dropped open as I stared at her. “Really?”

“Yes, we would love to have you.”

“Ok, I’ll think about it.”

She smiled and walked away.

Shock. Awe. I always considered myself a “can’t carry a tune in a bucket” kind of gal. My hands shook.

Hubby and I went to the lobby for coffee as tears filled my eyes. I remembered that a woman had prophesied over me twenty years ago. She asked me, “Do you sing?’

“No.”

“You’re going to.”

[Church singing was implied, not professional. Adel doesn’t have anything to worry about.]

So I’ll think about it. It might be a building block of healing in my life.

Also, if she is only recruiting for the choir, why didn’t she ask my husband also?

The whole thing terrifies me. I don’t know how to read music. I have trouble distinguishing if one note is higher than another if they are close together on the scale. [ It’s like the difference between red, blue and yellow to me. Different, not higher or lower.] Being in front of the church is terrifying, even if it’s in a large group.

So this might be one of those times to step out of the comfort zone.

Meanwhile, I can practice singing with Bailey.