This is a Personal Touch, a chance to check in with ordinary people making an extraordinary difference in the world. I’m your host, Rebecca Cressman, and this month A Personal Touch celebrates Christmas with a special series on the life and miracles of Jesus Christ. Now throughout this month we’ve explored the miracle of the Savior’s birth; the powerful lessons of the Savior’s childhood, and the miracles of Christ’s ministry. And this week we turn to award winning singer and songwriter Hilary Weeks who created a beautiful book called, He Lives. It celebrates the resurrection and the atonement of Jesus Christ with the artwork of Simon Dewey. Hilary, thank you so much for being a part of this Personal Touch series.
A: It’s my pleasure.
Q: Well the topic is a serious one: "The atonement and the resurrection of Jesus Christ", and your music elevates that message. But tell me a little bit about as you’ve written songs over the years why did this project speak to you?
A: There is nothing else I would rather write and sing about than the Savior and Christ- centered topics and this book was a perfect fit for that. I am a huge fan of Simon Dewey and his work. His paintings are gorgeous. They hang in my home. I have one of his, my favorite, hanging right by my piano where I write. The whole book was going to be about the Savior and that just seemed like a perfect match.
Q: As I look at the very opening it says, “To all who seek the Savior, may you come to know Him better through the artwork and music that are testimonies of Him.” Now I know that your song, "He Is", is a direct testimony. Tell me a bit about the message in that song for you?
A: That was one of my favorite songs to write. And it seemed so easy to write, which isn’t always the case with me. But one of the reasons that made it easy is because the whole song talks about how we see the Savior everywhere in our lives: through nature, through other people. I feel like we see Him everywhere: in a sunrise, in a sunset, in the changing of the leaves, so there was no lack of ideas to write about. And the whole song is a testimony of Him. It was so fun to write it. Then to hear the arrangement that Tyler Castleton did of it was even more stunning. It encapsulated the whole message so beautifully.
Q: We can see the Savior in everything we encounter in the world if we’re looking for Him in those things.
A: That’s exactly right.
Q: How do you express the power of the atonement through your music and through your words?
A: So many of the things that I write come from the experiences that other people are willing to share with me about what they have experienced and what the atonement has done in their own lives. Some of it comes from my own experience. I have certainly felt what the atonement can do, most recently a change of heart. Just feeling like… I didn’t think I could change my own heart and I’m not even sure I helped that much. Yet the Savior through the atonement can step in and change our hearts. So when people share their experiences and what they’ve been through with me and I draw from the experiences that I’ve had, there is so much to say about the Savior and what He can do in our lives. And who He can make us and who He can help us become.
Q: I’m looking at the words of, "All My Days" and it says, “Love and grace brought Him here, a world to save He suffered for all. He felt our pain; He knew it was the only way. He understands when I’m unsure. He knows the plan and when I’m tired losing my way He picks me up and gives me strength. And I will praise Him.” It’s just beautiful to think of that, that you’ll praise Him all of your days.
A: That song came from an experience that we had in Colorado. When we were living there a woman in our ward, she was a single mom, she had one daughter who was about 10 years old, 9 or 10 if I’m remembering right, and the mother found out that she had Leukemia and her daughter was going to need somewhere to go when this beautiful woman went into the hospital for a month and had chemotherapy. So we offered to let her daughter come stay with us, and it was such a beautiful experience to have her daughter with us to share that time with her. The mother ended up passing away and I just had to write. It’s in those moments sometimes when I feel something so deeply that I want to express; I want to say something. And I want to say something that I think other people might be feeling too. I don’t think I’m the first person to ever have those feelings and I wanted to be able to sing them. I did end up singing that at her funeral, that song, "All My Days".
Q: What a powerful memory for you to hold onto, especially when you think about your songs that tell the stories of somebody’s deeply emotional journey.
A: Yes, and with it still being universal. It wasn’t just her story. Those words, I suppose those lyrics, could relate to a number of different experiences or things that people are going through.
Q: The book comes with greater miracles: "All My Days" as we talked about; "My Brother, My Savior, My Friend"; "When He Calls My Name", and "He Is"; all those beautiful songs, does producing those songs or writing those songs, Hilary, does it magnify your personal relationship with the Savior?
A: It does and I’ll tell you one of the things that has really done that for me through music is having to completely depend on my Savior and our Heavenly Father for help. Because I don’t think I could write any of them; I don’t think I would be creative enough. I don’t think I could think of the music or lyric ideas without their help. And it would be foolish of me to think that I could. I know that the reason that I’m able to write is because of them, so I do. Whenever a song comes to mind and I feel their hand in it, I draw closer to them. And I certainly hope that when people listen to the music that is how they feel too. That, that song expresses for them a relationship with their Savior or how they would feel about Him.
Q: In the song, "When He Calls My Name", this refers to the resurrection?
A: Yes.
Q: Give me background, what you were thinking of when you wrote this song?
A: When I wrote this song it was the last one on a CD that I was completing and once I had it done I was going to be done writing. I was going to call this song, "Will He Remember My Name" and I was just stuck. I couldn’t get the lyrics to come; I couldn’t get the music to come. I realized that I couldn’t ask that question, “Will He remember my name?” I know He knows my name; that’s not a question for me. I know that He knew my name before I came here. He knows it now and He will know it when He comes again. That’s how much He loves us. And if He cares about knowing our name then He must care about every other detail of our lives. So I changed the title to, "When He Calls My Name" and that’s when the song just seemed to write itself. Everything fell into place, the lyrics, the music, and then it was complete.
Q: So it testifies of the literal resurrection of Jesus Christ and our own resurrection and how He personally will know each of us as we rise. Again that’s beautiful, Hilary, and of course it is a part of He Lives, the book that you’ve created with Simon Dewey, the artist, which is a testimony of the atonement and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Hilary, before I let you go, can you tell me how the expression of your testimony in this book has changed you?
A: I think the way that it changes me is through other people and the kindness and generosity of others. Once they listen to a song or they read that book or other works that I’ve been involved with and they are kind enough to send a note or send an email of how it has touched their lives; I think that’s when I start to catch a glimpse of the importance of the works that we each do in building our Heavenly Father’s kingdom. That it matters, that we all matter to each other and we couldn’t do it one without the other. Just like I’m so grateful for books that have been written by others or paintings that have been done and music by other people, I just think we all come together to be answers to each other’s prayers and to help each other feel the Spirit and feel peace and feel closer to our Heavenly Father.
Q: Thank you Hilary Weeks for your testimony and your beautiful music and lyrics in the book He Lives and Merry Christmas.
A: Thank you, you too, Rebecca.
End of interview
