Yahushua: The God Who Saves

It's still there.

It's been there for days,

Ever since I was sitting on the couch,

Crocheting,

With a song stuck in my head,

Which reminded me of the VeggieTales Jonah movie,

Which reminded me of Jonah 2:2-9,

Which reminded me of a song I wrote based on that passage.

As I sat, I heard the song,

In a way I rarely hear my songs,

Lyrics,

Melody,

And accompaniment.

I almost never hear the accompaniment.

The words come with the melody,

The melody comes with the words,

But the accompaniment rarely presents itself.

When it does, I can never manage to imitate the notes I hear when I sit down at/with an instrument.

I'm just bad at accompaniments.

That day, though, I heard it

And I felt like I had to try to play it,

So my afghan-in-progress (about the size of a scarf at that point) was left abandoned on the couch.

I retreated to my room,

Plugged in my keyboard,

Turned on the speakers,

And began to play.

I slowly coaxed notes from keys,

Awkwardly repositioned fingers to play different chords,

Played notes over and over again,

Played and sang to make sure the melody sounded okay with the accompaniment,

Made changes,

Played again

And again

And again.

I did it.

I managed to reproduce the accompaniment I heard using my keyboard.

Well, more or less.  It still needed work.

I pulled out my laptop and used its microphone to record what I'd come up with,

My hesitant chord progressions,

My tiny improvisations,

Then I went back to practicing for my performance.

I haven't touched the song since,

I've been busy with many things lately,

But the book lies open on my keyboard,

Covering screen and buttons,

Touching black keys,

Reminding me of the blessing of writing an accompaniment better than most I've come up with,

Reminding me to play it again

And again

And again . . .

Sometime,

When I have time.

I thanked God,

Still thank Him

For this blessing,

Beautiful and precious,

Calling Him by the name I learned writing the song,

Yahushua,
The God who saves.

Thank You, Saving God,

Thank You.

The bold, italicized words, as well as the words in the pictures are from the song "Yahushua (Jonah's Prayer)" by Mary Schieferstein, ©2011 Mary Schieferstein.

Still Holding Me: Video!

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to perform one of my songs as special music.

I was somewhat nervous, but once I sat down at the piano and began to play, my nerves calmed quite a bit.

Three words into the song, my voice kind of failed for a moment.

Fortunately, it came back.

When I listened to the recording, I was surprised that it actually sounded pretty good,

Better than I thought it would.

I had actually done it!

I performed one of my songs live for the second time in my life

And recorded it on video (which has never happened before with a live performance)!

I am excited to say that the video recording of my performance can be viewed online!

I was a little nervous about creating an account on a video sharing site, so I took some extra precautions, but I have uploaded it

And embedded it below.

I hope you enjoy it!



"Still Holding Me" is written and performed by Mary Schieferstein, ©2010 Mary Schieferstein.

Hide and Seek

She asked me to play with her,

To spend my time on her,

Play her favorite game.

I said yes,

For too often I say no,

And how can I say no

When the time I have with these precious ones is so short?

They had a hard time finding me the first two rounds,

On purpose, I think.

He came in, turned on the light, and still did not see.

She walked past me twice,

Came back immediately after finding another

And sat down on top of me.

The third round, I volunteered to be "it".

I grabbed my camera,

Started counting,

Gave the final warning:

". . .23, 24, 25. Ready or not, here I come!"

I headed up the stairs

In the direction the feet had run.

I found him first,

Almost instantly,

Hiding behind door ajar.

I kept searching,

Looking under one bed,

Then another.

(Dirty, aren't they?)

I searched behind the giant inflatable Dora

And behind the couch.

I went to the basement,

Looked underneath everything,

Even under the stairs in the ever-dirty,

Ever-forbidden spot.

I went back upstairs,

Wondering where she could be.

He accused me of not hearing,

Not listening,

Not paying attention.

He said I should have noticed.

I want to notice,

I'm just not that good.

I missed it.

I missed it.

I have to find her.

I went back upstairs,

Remembering the one place I hadn't looked,

Another place that should be on the "forbidden" list

Now that dresses have been moved there.

I peeked in,

Saw her tan legs where they met her white socks.

I found her.

She came out slowly

(Possibly because I was still snapping pictures),

Accepting defeat.

I found her.

It took awhile, but I found her.

I noticed.

The game reminded me of the second verse of a song,

A song that I need to hear over and over again for many reasons,

This being one of them.

I remember running down the hallway playing hide and seek
I didn't know that I was searching for someone to notice me
I felt alone and undiscovered
And old enough to understand
Just when I'm s'posed to be learning to love
You let me down again



"[S]earching for someone to notice me".

Do I notice them?

I was thinking just last night of how often I fail,

How many times a day I'm an awful sister,

How many times I fail to notice.

I want to notice.

I want to be there.

I want to love them

And care for them

And build them up

And lead them in the way they should go,

But how can I

When so often I don't do it myself?

One day I try to notice,

The next I try not to.

I want to notice every day,

To be there for them every day.

It's just so hard.

Please, Lord,

Teach me to notice.

The song "7x70" is written and performed by Chris August.  Many thanks to this artist for his incredible music.