The Missing Element...

A woman with a beautiful singing voice took lessons for several years from an outstanding teacher. Although she learned to sing every note perfectly, her performances were cold and mechanical.

One day her teacher told her: "My dear, I have taught you all I know; yet you lack one thing that I cannot supply. Something will have to come into your life that will break your heart. Only then will you be able to sing with feeling!"

Sir Malcolm Sargent (1895-1967), the outstanding orchestra conductor, found this principle to be true in his own life. Early in his career he battled against tuberculosis. After regaining his health, his 13-year-old daughter Pamela was stricken with polio.

One night, as he was about to conduct Handel's Messiah, he was handed a note that read: "Your daughter Pamela is dying." With tears in his eyes, he directed the orchestra and choir through such tender passages as "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people." Not only did he find strength from God's Word set to music, but his sorrows produced in him a deep feeling that flowed through his conducting.

Life may hold bitter experiences for us, but God can use them to help us understand the suffering that others go through and to minister to their needs.*

Has your heart been broken before God yet?

Isaiah 61:1 - "He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives."