This was recently sent as an E-mail message to folks like yours truly who are involved in the programming of Southern Gospel music on radio by a person who is known by just about everyone who is a part of the Southern Gospel music industry. It was sent to promote a particular song, but says a whole lot more … and I feel should be shared with you. Please take a few moments to read:
I will never forget it … it was 31 years ago … it was a scribbled stack of papers on my kitchen table. It was something I’d never heard of before. It was a Gospel tract that was in the process of being written. It wasn’t even done yet. It was passed along to me to “proofread,” since it was said that I was good with grammar. So, the idea was that I could read through it, then I could let the gentleman who was writing it know what was worded correctly and what needed to be fixed.
So, one morning, all alone, in the quiet of my little townhouse in Taylor, Michigan, I picked it up and began to read through it, “red” pen in hand, ready to find what was wrong and send it back ready for print. But, as I scanned the slightly sloppy lay out and scattered Bible verses that were jotted down, I began to hear something … I began to sense that a voice I had been listening for since I was a little girl was echoing off the pages and into my heart. That scribbled stack of papers was my VOICE IN THE DESERT. And the words and layout didn’t need the real repair … I DID.
I had talked to GOD for many, many years. I didn’t really know for sure what to do or how to do it, but I remember, as a small child, I would lay in bed at night and pray. I would ask God if I was good enough … and having grown up in a very troubled home with addicts and abuse, I would often cry out in the dark to that GOD I was searching for, with a pillow held over my head … and I would wonder … can HE hear me? Is HE there?
Now, back to the little townhouse in 1982 … and the answer to that question. Yes … HE heard me … and YES, He was there, and NOW, HE was the voice calling out to me. So, all by myself in my living room, I knelt down. I laid my face in the old shag carpet and I asked that VOICE IN THE DESERT, whose name is JESUS, to come into my heart and to save my soul. I prayed the sinner’s prayer at the bottom of the last page of that rough draft. I found the HOPE above all HOPE and LOVE above all LOVE. My life was changed ETERNALLY … and it all started with a pile of scribbled papers that became my VOICE IN THE DESERT.
I don’t think I ever actually “corrected” that Gospel tract in the making. It sure worked perfectly for me, just the way it was!
That, my dear friends, is my testimony. That is how I came to know the SAVIOR. That is how I found my answers. And, as a girl who had sung since I could talk, that is the moment that I found my REAL song. And that is the REASON I sing today and why I share the music of others, as well, like the Freemans who sing the amazing song “VOICE IN THE DESERT.”
Donna King
The writer of this is a young lady named Donna Beauvais King. When I first met her several years ago, she was a member of the family group, Hope’s Call. Since the group disbanded, she’s become a record producer and promoter …and in recent weeks, you’ve likely heard her with husband Zane King on enLighten sing a tune titled “Hallelujah, Jesus Saves.”
You’ve heard “Voice in the Desert” on enLighten … but take a few more moments to ponder the lyrics of this song that dramatically calls every one of us to action:
Can you see the rugged preacher?
Knee deep in the Jordan river
He got fire in his eyes
Can you hear the words he’s speaking?
He’s calling out to the sinner
“Come repent and be baptized”
They say, “Hey, ain’t you the one the prophets said would come?”
And he said, “No, but…”Well, the lost still need the gospel
And the Lord still needs some people
Who will live what they believe
So don’t leave the message
Sitting underneath the steeple
Let’s shout it in the streets
I’m gonna take this light of mine to the world and let it shine
‘Cause He said “Go”Somebody gotta tell about Jesus
Somebody gotta talk about love
Somebody gotta preach redemption
Somebody gotta testify about the blood
Somebody gotta be a voice in the desert
Somebody gotta make a way for the Lord
Somebody gotta be willing
To tell the good news to all of God’s children
Gotta stand up, gotta go wherever
People need to hear
A voice in the desert!Written by Lee Black, Jason Cox and Kenna Turner West
As Donna went on to suggest … maybe it would be meaningful and enjoyable for you to reflect back to your “moment” of salvation today!
Marlin
