Why I Write Songs About Jesus Christ

Posted on by Sara Lyn Baril

Since I was a teen, just starting to write music, it has been my greatest desire to share my testimony of Jesus Christ. He makes all the difference in my life. I can’t imagine going through this life without knowing His gospel and how He can heal, bless and strengthen me during challenges. This knowledge brings peace. How do I know? Well, I have tested it. I have prayed to have His spirit comfort me when I’m sad, to guide me when I’m confused or lost, and to lead me when I need a pure example to follow. And when I seek Him, He is always there. There is nothing on earth that has come to my aid in the same way and brought the same kind of hope, comfort and peace.

I have had some incredible writing experiences over the past 20 years. These are treasures to me. People often ask where I get my inspiration. I honestly don’t know sometimes. I am not entirely sure why these songs come to me. I am usually completely caught of guard when a song comes. It’s not something I always seek. Yet, the songs continue to come in quiet, unexpected moments. Sometimes they fill a need for a specific purpose, however, I have found more often than not that these songs have come when they were needed. They are a gift that I feel responsible to share. I feel that it has been a test for me of obedience, and through this, the language of the spirit has become easier to hear and understand – something I am still learning. For this, I am grateful. Maybe that’s how gift given are. Every now and then I receive a beautiful letter from someone who says that my music has blessed them or that I wrote that song just for them. I always say thank you, but really, I want to tell them the thousands of times it has blessed, for through sharing our testimony – in whatever ways we do – I have learned that we are blessed first.

The twelve songs from Thy Healing Hands were written with the goal in mind of sharing my testimony that I know it is the Savior who can heal us. The scripture theme for that album is in 2 Kings, “Thus saith the Lord….I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee”. Though we experience trials and challenges in diverse ways, the Savior is the One who can strengthen, comfort, heal and bless in ways that are eternal and long-lasting. Sometimes He does this through other individuals, but more often than not, I have found this healing come in very personal and private ways, unconnected with anyone or anything else. Healing is an interesting concept. We have to first believe that we can be healed, then comes faith.

We must simultaneously work WITH the Master Healer. Healing is found through faith – and faith is a verb. Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and aopen the door, I will bcome in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.” We have to invite Him in. We do this through keeping commandments, covenants, and by learning of Him and then following His example in service and love.

Come To Know Him was a follow up album which came about because of some very personal reasons. Several of these 13 songs were among my first compositions – written before I ever knew what I was doing or why. In fact, when I was only 21, I compiled a binder of several of these songs – in basic lyric form with music still in my head, with the title “Come To Know Him”. I still have that binder. I thought THAT would have been my first album if I were ever given the opportunity. To me, this second album is my testimony of how we can trust the Lord; how we can come to know of a surety that He is who He says He is, and that He will do – and has done – all that was promised. The theme for this album is a quote from Elder Henry B. Eyring, “It’s by giving our whole hearts to the master and keeping His commandments that we come to know him.”
 
Faith is belief in action. It’s hard to act if we don’t trust that it will do anything. But I testify that it does. These songs are an expression of my testimony how I have come to know Him by studying and sharing His words and how, even though healing hasn’t come in ways that I have expected, it has come. It is faith, trust, humility, and our actions in response to our knowledge that determine the level of peace we can acquire in a chaotic, mortal and fallen world where very little makes sense and very little hope is offered. Coming to know our Savior is where that safety and peace is found. He has promised “I am the WAY, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6) As children of God, don’t we all want to return to our Father in Heaven? It is not enough to just to know of our Savior, Jesus Christ, but coming to know Him, is where we translate knowing into trust, and trust into doing.

 
Though there are stories behind each of these individual songs – which I am slowly starting to share – I feel that these 25 songs encapsulate the testimony I have of Jesus Christ. I hope that these words and melodies bring peace and comfort and that they, most of all, help you to feel of His love and the power He offers through His infinite Atonement.
In a world where there’s darkness, He IS the Light and as one who has made covenants with Jesus Christ at baptism, I will share His light.
 
www.saralynbaril.com
Photo credit: “I Am The Way” by Simon Dewey. Used with permission by Altus Fine Art.

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