Gloria (Peach) and Allen Ice

Born a music lover

My sister Peach (her given name is Gloria, but we’ve  always called her Peach) has been singing all her life. Her first public appearance was as part of a trio on Mother’s Day with big brother Tommy (age eight) and big sister me (age seven). Peach was three. Tommy later told Mom, “She sings like a cowboy!”

Music was always an “ear-getter” for her, she told me recently. She learned piano, not by reading the notes, but by copying her teacher. It was the same with singing. Although she did learn to read music, she didn’t have to see the score to learn the song or figure out the harmony. When Peach sings it’s clear that, for her, music is air. She breathes it in and sings it out, sweet and clear, with no sign of a cowboy twang! 

Hymns have a way of getting into one’s heart and mind, and they helped form the foundation of Peach’s faith. They are meaty with truth, they translate the gospel into a language that the soul understands, and they give God glory.

How hymns impacted her ministry

Early in her ministry as a children’s pastor, Peach received an unexpected assignment to call on an elderly parishioner who had just had surgery. Her discomfort at being in a hospital, at the bed of someone she did not know, allowed her to stay only a short time, pray, and leave. Several such hospital visits followed.

But then she went with Mom to see our Auntie Babe, who was nearing death. Knowing that music was a big part of Mom and Babe’s home, Peach began to sing hymns. While she was singing Victory in Jesus, Auntie Babe raised her arm in the air, and by the time the song was finished, she had slipped away.

Since the experience with Auntie Babe, Peach has ministered to many dying people, to their families, and to people who gather for funerals and memorial services. She has been invited into people’s lives at their most vulnerable moments. “It is very humbling to be with people at their death, but the Lord has been gracious, giving me wisdom and courage.”

My friend Nancy Nelson talks about thin places, a sacred space “where Heaven overlaps Earth, the Kingdom of God is at hand, and where grace overflows.” Perhaps transition from this earthly life to eternity takes us through a thin place and hymns are one of the Lord’s means to draw the soul to himself.

Peach isn’t afraid of death. She knows it’s the doorway into the presence of God for those who have trusted Christ as Savior.  When she sings over someone as they are transitioning she feels a sense of peace. And she marvels that they get to see what we read about in the Bible but haven’t yet seen.

Peace in the face of death

For some, the letting go is difficult because of unresolved issues. In one home, the matriarch was dying and the adult children were arguing among themselves. Peach sent the family outside to work out their differences. “The Lord will have that in his hands,” she told the matriarch, who thanked Peach and peacefully slipped into Heaven as Peach sang over her.

This is a ministry that God has equipped and anointed Peach for. She relies on the Holy Spirit’s guidance in the hymns she sings, when to sing, when to pray, when to be silent. The support of her presence can turn out to be the gift that blesses the most.

Zephaniah 3:17 could almost be a description of someone who is passing from this life into Heaven: The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing (NKJV). Yes, God sings over us. And sometimes he uses human representatives, like my sister Peach.

This is my Her of the Month post for February, 2021.

The featured image of the cross-stitch is a project I did for Peach many years ago. It seems so appropriate to represent her, both then and now. It hangs over the piano in Peach and Allen’s home.