“Come As You Are and Partake of Christ’s Healing Power”

In Isaiah 12:2 it says “…the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song”. I love this scripture because I feel the Savior’s strength in my life, and countless times that strength and that love has come through hearing good music testifying of Him. But here is my secret—I don’t read music. My mom gave up on me being a great pianist many years ago and let me quit (I think hiding my piano books as a little girl to get out of practicing was the last straw). But, I LOVE good music and I feel the spirit so strongly through it.

I can sort of sing. I’ve sung in different ward choirs through the years, but what I’ve learned to do is sit by someone who reads music and is really good at carrying a tune. I make sure I am next to them or I am sitting directly in front of them. Then I can pick it up.

This years Women’s Conference theme is “Come As You Are and Partake of Christ’s Healing Power.” When I come to sing in the ward choir I come just as mediocre as I am—hoping to become better with the help of other choir members. Throughout His life, many people “came as they were” to the Savior and were changed because of it. We read
in The New Testament and Book of Mormon of countless people who were healed, forgiven, taught, and changed by the Savior. They came from all walks of life with different experiences, different sins, different worries; hearts burdened with different things. But they all came.

We come just as we are to the Savior today to be changed as we turn to Him and to His Gospel. Elder Holland pleads with us to stay permanently and faithfully in the choir—the choir being the gospel of Jesus Christ. He says, “in singing the anthems of eternity, we should stand as close as humanly possible to the Savior and Redeemer of the world—who has absolutely perfect pitch.” Just as I choose to sit next to someone when I sing who has better pitch than I—as we choose to come to the Savior we become better.

In this life there are, there have been, and there will be days where we may not feel like singing—where our faith is being tested, or we feel like we just don’t fit in. But it’s on those days that Elder Holland counsels us to stay faithfully in the choir where there is room for all of us—“There is room for those who speak different languages, celebrate diverse cultures, and live in a host of locations. There is room for the single, for the married, for large families, and for the childless. There is room for those who once had questions regarding their faith and room for those who still do. There is room for those with differing sexual attractions. In short, there is a place for everyone who loves God and honors His commandments…there is room in this choir for all who wish to be there. ‘Come as you are,’ a loving Father says to each of us, but He adds, ‘Don’t plan to stay as you are.’ We smile and remember that God is determined to make of us more than we thought we could be.”

As we contemplate the different names of Jesus Christ, including “Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace”(Isaiah 9:6) why would we not want to come? Why would we wait “for things to get better” before coming? The whole reason to come is to be changed. Sisters, “the whole need no physician” (Moroni 8:8). It is my prayer that we will come just as we are to the Savior and partake of His goodness and His healing power. As we do, I know He will change us—He will help us become who we are meant to become.

~Tiffany McMinn