MY HEART SONG: "ALMA, BORN OF GOD"

The 1991 original, handwritten copy of Alma, Born of GodTen years later I was able to input the song into the computer, using Finale. If you click on the picture, you'll get a bigger view.

WHY I WROTE THIS SONG

Karl Kent Thompson, 1939-1962, is my brother. He contracted a kidney disease when he was 15 years old. For seven months he lay in bed, unable to get up for any purpose, and unable to do his school work or art projects because of his severe headaches. He eventually died of that disease when he was just under the age of 23 and I was 17. He changed my life for the better.

The following story was written in 1991. I was 46 years old and wanted to compose a song about what makes people change for the better. Kent's influence helped me write this story, as well as the song. Kent Thompson, age 14
The Thompson Family. Kent stands rear left, age 15, just before his illness.

I am front right, age 10.

Kent Thompson, 1961, a few months before his death. Kent was a spiritual giant.

THE WONDERFUL SECRET

Kent was 15 when he became ill with a kidney disease. He had been in bed for seven months when he announced to the family something wonderful was going to happen. Kent was my brother. I was there to witness that what he missed most was his being with the family at church. Every week he begged to go, but the doctors knew it would be detrimental to his health. I was 10 years old at the time, old enough to know he could barely get out of bed, let alone walk. We all hoped he would recover.

It seemed everyone knew what the wonderful secret was except me and my younger sister, Shirley. Kent explained that it was the most wonderful thing that could happen in the whole world, and he wanted us to guess what it was. We guessed every worldy possession we could think of, the biggest, and most valuable being a grand piano. He went on to give us another hint: it was going to come through his bedroom window. I can still see that big, black, grand piano floating through his open window. I was ready to believe anything because I wanted it so badly. But, every guess we made was wrong. The last clue he gave was that he would receive it the next Sunday.

When he told us his secret, we didn't understand. Decades later, I reflect, and I feel I am just beginning now to understand. As time progressed, the veil between Kent and the Spirit World became very thin. His understanding of the scriptures was profound. My parents wondered how could someone so young know so much. The whole family eventually learned to go to Kent for guidance on any subject.

His wonderful secret was this: He had found Jesus Christ, who dwells in the heavens, which Kent could see from his bed as he looked out the window. He had readied himself to have the faith he would need to become healed, and succesfully get up and go to church the next Sunday, despite doctor's orders. He was healed, and did go...and nearly every Sunday thereafter, until he died seven years later.

Now I can look back and see that this period of time was a turning point for Kent as he coped with his illness. His gifts of the Spirit were innumerable after he found Christ, and he blessed our home with intense spirituality.

Recently, I wanted to capture this essence of personal faith and change and put it in song form. I turned to The Book of Mormon, Another Testament of Jesus Christ. I felt that within the story of Alma's conversion, the wonderful secret of self improvement was recorded. But I struggled to find which verse was the heart of the story, or the turning point for Alma. I spent hours over a span of weeks to locate the scripture that tells what makes people change. I prayed that I could find it so that I could write this song.

My answer came during sacrament service one Sunday. After making a quick scan of my worn-out pages of Mosiah 27 and Alma 36, I found the answer! It was so simple that I couldn't believe I had missed it all those years. It is on page 299: "Now, as my mind caught hold upon this thought,..."

Kent was given time while he was in bed to allow his mind to "catch hold" upon the thought of Jesus Christ. That was the turning point for him, as also for Alma, and it is for us, too. The wonderful part is, if we believe in Christ's Atonement, and ask Him for His mercy, we will remember our sins no more, and we will experience unspeakable joy in our lives. Alma did it, and it only took him three days...and he didn't move a muscle! Christ did the rest.

I witnessed Kent's last moments. I saw him raise his eyes in surprise and joy, and he looked towards the window. As he raised his thin right arm in expectation, I knew Someone wonderful had come to escort him out of his earthly pain. We knew, as a family, that Kent had not only "caught hold" of Jesus Christ in this life, but was embracing Him in the next.