Education Week: Musical trio teaches ways to recognize God’s hand

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From left: Lori Hales, Me’Chel Musgrave and Debbi Bastian of the musical trio “Heartbound,” shared their thoughts about seeing God’s hand in one’s life through music and word. (Addie Blacker)

Three harmonic female voices filled the Madsen Recital Hall during an Education Week session on Tuesday, Aug. 20.

The musical trio “Heartbound,” composed of Lori Hales, Debbie Bastian and Me’Chel Musgrave, shared, through music and words, the importance of seeing God’s hand in one’s life.

The group started singing together in the 1980s and have been together ever since.

“We hope and pray that today you will be able to come with eyes to see the great and marvelous work we have the privilege of being a part of,” Bastian said as the trio then began singing “A Marvelous Work.”

Bastian then shared one of Jesus Christ’s miracles found in Matthew 17:27. Tribute money was required, and Christ asked Peter to collect the money by going to the Sea of Galilee and casting in his hook. Despite Peter’s probable doubts, he obeyed the Lord, and the first fish he caught had a gold coin in its mouth.

“God orchestrates miracles in our lives. He is — by design — in the details of our lives,” Bastian said. “When have we caught the fish with the coin?”

Bastian shared her acronym for the word SMILE: See miracles in life every day.

The trio then sang a song written by Bastian and her husband entitled, “Stand As A Warrior Today.” The music they sang along with included a recorded track of male voices singing “We’ll Bring The World His Truth.” Hales later identified the voices as those of their missionary sons.

“Music best expresses our testimonies and our love for God,” Hales said. “When I see God’s hand in my life, I also see music. Music has totally and completely blessed my life.”

Hales encouraged audience members to stop and take time to see God’s hand in their lives and to look for what Latter-day Saint author Gerald Lund calls “divine signatures.”

“I thank God for His divine signatures, for those times when He allows us to see His hand in our lives,” she said. “I don’t know how He does it, but oh how thankful I am that he does.”

They then sang the well-known Christian song “I Can Only Imagine,” and invited the audience to sing along with them.

Noting the recent 50th anniversary of the man on the moon, Musgrave compared the challenging path of an astronaut traveling to space to one’s life on Earth — both have the ultimate goal of returning home safely.

“We have all experienced turbulence in our life at times when we wonder if we can continue on,” she said. At times, even NASA has failed, and so will we,” she said.

Though everyone’s mission may not be to walk on the moon, Musgrave suggested to the audience they have an even greater mission. “We will live eternally forever and ever as we have eyes to see His hand in our lives,” she said.

She quoted the famous words of Neil Armstrong, “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” and asked the audience to consider what their last words will be and what will they leave behind — for their posterity and for mankind.

The trio finished their performance by singing an emotionally-stirring arrangement of “How Great Thou Art” and “I Need Thee Every Hour” as pictures of Jesus Christ showed on the screen, concluded with their testimonies.

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