Childlike Joy

So my teammate and roommate Brooke and I, after living together for maybe a hour, discovered that we both love to sing.  We were constantly finding songs we both know and singing them together finding different harmonies or just changing the song up all together and singing it.  We both love hymns so normally about once a day we are singing a hymn together or separately.  Most of the time we are just in our own little worlds sing about the God that we love and cherish.  Well… Apparently the students that are our roommates began to notice us singing all the time.  My roommate M came up to me the other day once we were already at school and asked “Can you teach me the song you were singing this morning?”  I looked at her surprised… “was I singing a song this morning?”  I didn’t really know what she was talking about.  I mean I am constantly humming something, but I normally do it without thinking, so when she asked me to teach her the song… I honestly didn’t even know what song she was talking about.  I turned to Brooke and she didn’t know either.  M went on to say “you were singing it this morning and you and Brooke were singing it last night.”  Brooke and I looked completely confused.  I really had no clue what she was talking about, but then she tried to sing it and I could tell in her broken English that she was singing Amazing Grace.  Brooke and I were like “OHHHH! You want to learn how to sing Amazing Grace?”  M looks at us and goes “Yes yes! Please teach me!”  We just looked at each other and smiled.  I’m thinking of course I will teach you how to sing Amazing Grace!!!  Praying that I would be able to tell her what those words really meant!  During the Lunch break we went into the chapel and started to teach her the lyrics of the Amazing Grace.  We wrote them all down for her in English and slowly sang verse by verse over and over again until she was singing it with us confidently.  It took her about 45 minutes to really learn the song and be able to sing it on her own.  M has such a beautiful voice.  I only know a little about her story and her journey into South Korea, but I know enough to know that her singing this song and being able to fully understand what she is singing is a powerful powerful thing!  At the end of each verse I would ask her if she knew what that verse was saying and what it meant.  At first she was slow to respond, but then she just started talking like she couldn’t contain her words.  To hear her explain to me that her favorite part of the song was the third verse about how the Lord has promised good to her and how he will be her shield if only she believes in him.  Her explaining all of that took about 20 minutes, but the minute I understood what she was saying, I started to cry.  How beautiful is this wonderful woman who has been through a crazy painful journey and in the midst of everything she is putting her faith in a God that promises good for her and a God who will be her shield.  Even now, it’s been about a week since this conversation, I still here her humming Amazing Grace as she is reading or doing her homework in the Apartment.  Most of the time I get a huge smile when I hear her but then there are those couple moments when tears start to pour because I know that I have a sister in Christ who’s faith is growing and who really trusts her Savior in all things.