Experience of Sister Arlene Buffington, Pennsylvania District
On September 13, 1976, I was thinking about the children of the saints and wondering why many have not obeyed the Gospel as yet. I was wondering what goes through their minds, seeing that they know this is the true Church, and many have a desire to serve God and have expressed this desire, yet they put it off.
As I was thinking about this, the power of God fell upon me such as I had never experienced in all my years in the Church, and the words of a song were given to me. It was a song entitled My Place, and it told of the thoughts of our young people. It told of how they searched the world for satisfaction, trying to find their place in life, then finally they come to realize that “without God there is no joy in living.” The last line of the song says, “Oh wondrous grace, God found my place for me.”
I did not realize that the experience given me this day was the bestowal of a gift. My body shook with the power of God all that day and all the next. Then the songs began to come to me fairly often, many of them given in the same manner as the first. From that day till now there have been given over two hundred songs.
Quite a few of the songs were given to me during church services, especially fasting and prayer meetings. I never know when God will give me a song or what it will be about. Sometimes I am awakened from my sleep singing a new song.
I have no talent as a poet, musician, or singer. I was never a person that was able to get up in front of people. When the song Send Hunters and Fishers was given to me in October of 1977, the Spirit of God prompted me to get up and sing it for the congregation of my branch. I knew that if God wasn’t with me I couldn’t even carry a tune, but the Spirit kept prompting me to get up. I said, “Lord, please don’t shame me in front of my people.” As I stood up to sing, the Spirit of God fell upon me, and I know everyone there felt a blessing.
From that time, whenever God gave me a song, I would sing it once for my branch, then put it on my piano until it was put down on paper. Although I could hear the songs clearly in my mind, I did not know how to put the notes on paper for our people to sing.
Many of the brothers and sisters have had experiences relating to The Songs of Zion. Our branch had been praying that God would send someone to help me write the songs down. On Sunday evening March 9, 1980, we had a special prayer offered for this cause, and we felt the prayer ascend to heaven. The next day Brother Eugene Amormino called me on the phone, offering his help with the songs. He related an experience of how the Lord had prompted him to call me at this time. Our prayers were answered.
On March 28, 1980, Brother Eugene flew in from Detroit and arrived at my home at 9:00 p.m. We knelt in prayer before we began working on the songs, praying that God would let him “hear what I hear,” that the songs might be written down correctly. We felt as though the Lord was standing there at the piano with us. We could feel the prayers, as we knew many of the brothers and sisters were praying in our behalf.
A song entitled My Father Does His Perfect Work had been given to me the morning after Brother Eugene called. One line says God, “Removes the cloud that we might see/His perfect work more perfectly.” By sending Brother Eugene, God has allowed the songs to be written in perfection, as they had been given. These are songs of hope, joy and deliverance–songs of Latter-Day Glory. They are The Songs of Zion.