WEBVTT

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Paisley: Paisley.

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Hi everybody, Paisley, imperfect
here and today we're going to

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talk about music, something that
you may not know about me. I

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call my friends, my family, my
village. I just call them my

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people. And it's not that I
consider myself their leader or

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something ridiculous like that.
They're just my people. They're

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the people that I choose to
surround myself with, and so

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they become mine. They're my
people.

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Anyway, one of my people
suggested that I do an episode

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on music. So here we are. I have
had some very positive

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experiences and some very
spiritual experiences with

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music, and I'm going to share a
couple of those today. But

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first, I want to tell you about
a web page that I found on the

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church's website, the Church of
Jesus Christ, of Latter Day

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Saints on the website.

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And I'll make sure that I copy
it or that I paste it in a paste

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a link in the video description,
because I was going to read the

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URL, but it's like church of
Jesus Christ, of Latter Day,

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saints slash music, slash
resources, slash music, dash

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quotes, or something like, I
don't know it's kind of long, so

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I'll make sure that it's linked
so you don't have to write all

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of that down.

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There are quotes and scriptures
listed there all about, all

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about music and the importance
of music. If you go there, you

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can type in the power of music
or the importance of music, and

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a whole bunch of talks will come
up talking about music and how

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powerful it is in our lives.

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For example, President, Ruben J,
Clark Jr. So this, I pulled this

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quote, all of the quotes that
I'm going to use today, I pulled

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from the music quotes page, and
this one was President

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J Reuben Clark,

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or Reuben J Clark Jr.

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He said, I'll make sure that
it's correct when I post it on

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Instagram. But he said, we get
nearer to the Lord through music

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than perhaps through any other
thing except prayer.

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If you remember, I remember from
my my seminary teaching days,

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the song of the righteous is a
prayer unto me. It's in the

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Doctrine and Covenants, and
actually both of those are a

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really good opening to my first
memorable experience with music

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and how it changed my life. So I
was a teenager and my family was

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falling apart. I am the oldest
of four kids, and at the time, I

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was the only one of the kids who
really had a good idea of what

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was what was going on, what was
happening. And before I keep

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going, I need to be clear about
something. As I've gotten older,

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I've realized how difficult it
is to be a grown up

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and a parent. I don't think that
that excuses our behavior. And

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forgiveness is definitely an
active and an ongoing thing for

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me, but I tell you that because
the story is very personal, both

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for me and for my parents, and
I'm sharing it without their

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permission, not because I don't
necessarily think I could get

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it, but because it's an
important story for me, it's

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important for my own life, it
helped shaped me and helped me

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to become who I am. So all of
that being said, it seemed like

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my family was falling apart at
the time. I was 14 or 15, and I

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found out that there was a word
of wisdom problem that was

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affecting my family. I had been
taught since the day I was born.

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I was born and raised in the
church of Jesus Christ of Latter

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Day Saints, and I had been
taught since the day I was born

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that breaking the word of wisdom
was not okay. If you don't know

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what the word of wisdom is, you
can do a quick search, and

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you'll find out pretty quick. I
would recommend that you go to

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the Church of Jesus Christ, of
Latter Day Saints website to do

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that search, because there was a
lot of misinformation. If you

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don't anyway, I had been taught,
you know, we don't drink coffee,

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we didn't even drink herbal tea,
like we were pretty strict word

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of wisdom followers. And so to
find out that there was a

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problem in my home was
difficult, something that you've

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been taught since the day you
were born, and now you're a

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teenager in the middle of being
a teenager, and you find out

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that there's a problem. But
there we were, my parents,

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marriage was hanging by a
thread. Again, 14 or 15, I was

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an awkward teenager. We lived
kind of far from everybody in

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our ward and everybody at
school. I don't really know how

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to explain that, other than we
were living in the middle of a

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military base and nobody else
lived close by. Everybody else

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was off of the. Military Base
took us about a half an hour to

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get to church every Sunday,
which is not that big of a deal,

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unless you live in Utah and it's
right down the street. Anyway.

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We lived far away from
everybody, so I didn't really

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have any friends. I was very
rarely invited to things, and

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usually I was only invited
because some teenagers parents

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encouraged them to invite me.
Why don't you invite ABI along

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see if she wants to come? It's
fine. That's what we're supposed

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to do. And so they would invite
me along. And plus, well, my

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face. We've talked about this
too many times, probably, and

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I'll probably keep talking about
it, but I am blessed with the

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resting grump face, and nobody
really wants to hang out with

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somebody who seems to be grumpy
all the time, especially not

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when you're a teenager and
you're already grumpy enough on

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your own, right? So here I was
in sacrament meeting one day,

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and all of these things came
crashing in on me, no friends at

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school, no friends at church. My
siblings don't know what's going

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on at home. My mom and dad are
fighting all the time, and as

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the oldest, it felt like my
responsibility to make sure that

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the other three had the things I
thought they were missing, which

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I now know is not my job, but
that's not what this is about.

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Plenty of other grownups in my
ward knew by now what was going

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on between my parents, but none
of them were talking to me about

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it either. They were encouraging
their kids to reach out to me

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without any context. So I became
the service project. Everything

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just felt like a giant mess, and
I was crying myself to sleep

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every night, almost every night,
because it was the only way I

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could get to sleep, and I didn't
have any other way to release

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any of my emotion. So now, at
this point in my life, I am

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presented with the opportunity
to justifiably rebel, if it's

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good enough for them, it's good
enough for me. I had plenty of

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reason and plenty of excuses and
the perfect opportunity. So I

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did what plenty of other people
have done, and I took it to God.

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I told him that I needed to know
he was there. I told him that I

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needed to know that he knew who
I was and I was I told him I was

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either going to be all in or all
out. I felt very much alone, and

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I just couldn't do it by myself
anymore. So again, here I was in

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sacrament meeting, really just
going through the motions. I was

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there. I was going to go to
Sunday school after that, and

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young women's after that, and I
just, I was just there. But then

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we sang the sacrament hymn, and
that day it was number 136, I

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know that my Redeemer lives the
end of the first verse is the

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end of the first verse where it
says He lives to bless me in

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time of need. Plucked a
heartstring. It was like

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somebody snapped in my face to
get my attention. And so I was

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kind of like, okay, you've got
my attention. And then we get

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into the second verse, And the
part that says he lives to

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comfort me when faint a little
bit more than a pluck. He lives

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to hear my soul's complaint. I
started to cry. I had definitely

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been complaining quite a bit. He
lives to wipe away my tears had

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me sobbing. And by the time we
got to He lives to calm my

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troubled heart, I knew that my
father in heaven and my Savior

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were well aware of me. My exact
circumstance was known, my lack

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of friends and support was
known. I was known, and now all

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of a sudden, I knew that all of
those nights that I had spent

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crying myself to sleep, I had
not been crying by myself. I had

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not been crying alone. I had had
somebody there to wipe away my

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tears and to silence all my
fears.

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And that's when I decided and
chose to be all in there is

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another experience that I'll
share, but I wanted to get up

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with another quote first. This
one is from President David O

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McKay in 1945 he said music is
truly the universal language,

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and what it is excellently
expressed how deeply it moves

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our souls. Notice that he does
not speak specifically to

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religious music. He doesn't say
the music of the Tabernacle

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Choir is the universal language.
He doesn't say church music or

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LDS hymns or other inspired
hymns. He doesn't say that he's.

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Says music is truly the
universal language, and I'm

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using that on purpose because
I'm a firm believer that the

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Holy Ghost can use anything,
anything, all different kinds of

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music to reach us. I've shared
previously that my husband and I

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struggled with infertility for
over a decade, and so it should

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be no surprise that when I was
finally pregnant past eight

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weeks, I had had three
miscarriages by this time,

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right? And so by the time I was
pregnant past eight weeks,

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everything freaked me out.
Everything about the pregnancy

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freaked me out. The first time
she moved, I was like, Oh my

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goodness. What the heck is going
on? Everything caused a mini

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panic attack. There was one day
in particular that I was getting

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ready for work and something
happened. And I don't remember

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exactly what it was that
happened, but it was something.

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It was enough to get me to panic
just a little bit. My husband

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was at work already. I and I
was, I was getting ready and was

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just gonna head off to work. And
by this point in my life,

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whenever I start to panic, well,
by this, this point when I was

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pregnant with my daughter,
whenever I would start to panic,

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I would start to pray and just
be like, okay, am I freaking

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out, or are you trying to tell
me something? And so I was doing

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my best to stay calm, because
that was my doctor would always

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told me, You should stay calm.
Everything is fine. You don't

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need to worry about anything.
Everything is fine. Everybody's

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healthy, everybody's safe, it's
fine. It didn't matter what

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anybody said I would start to
panic. I got myself ready for

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work, and I got in the car
before I turned on the car,

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before I started moving, I just
quickly closed my eyes and said

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another just quick prayer,
asking for comfort before I

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started to drive, took a deep
breath, turned on the car, and

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immediately the song that came
on was a song called fight song

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by Rachel Platten. And instantly
I felt that this song was my

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girl's song. She was a fighter,
and she was going to win.

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Everything was going to be okay,
better than okay, because this

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girl was going to make it. I
cried all the way to work, happy

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tears. I cried all the way to
work, and that song has forever

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been her anthem, still to this
day, when that song comes on, we

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blessed it, and we sing at the
top of our lungs. So it doesn't

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have to be a hymn. It doesn't
have to be perfect music in

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someone else's opinion of
perfect for it to speak to you,

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a couple more quotes about the
power of music before I wrap

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this up. President George Albert
Smith said, I wonder sometimes

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if we realize the importance of
music. I wonder if we know that

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the Lord Himself is concerned
about it. He has given us the

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information that the song of
praise is a prayer unto Him. It

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is our privilege, yea, our
blessing, to sing, and our songs

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should be sung in righteousness.
Then from then elder Russell M

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Nelson. So before he was
President Nelson, he said, it

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really matters what you listen
to, select music that will

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strengthen your spirit. And if I
remember correctly, that was in

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the 90s when he said that I'll
make sure that it gets posted

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somewhere. And here's my
favorite one today and a little

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plug for your ward choir elder
Graham w doxey In 1991 said,

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When you sing the hymns, ponder
the meaning of the words, enjoy

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the spirit of the music. Sing
with enthusiasm, without regard

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to your tones. You will have a
good feeling, and your spirit

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will be enlivened. Um, don't
worry about what you sound like.

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God doesn't care. And he's he's
really the one we're singing

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for, isn't he? So it doesn't
matter. And I mean, frankly, not

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that many people around you care
either. There is a sister in our

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ward who is mostly deaf. She
doesn't have any words. She does

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make sounds, but she doesn't
have any words. And she sings,

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and she sings at the top of her
lungs. She sings without shame,

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and I wish I had her courage
anyway. Thank you to my people

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for the suggestion to talk about
music today. I appreciate it. I

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don't know where I would be
without it, and I hope I never

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have to find out. Keep growing,
keep learning and keep singing

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until next time. Thanks guys.
You.