You Are God Alone - the Footes

“…that’s just the way it is”. Does that sound like a sigh of resignation? If you heard Billy Foote sing those few words, or rather try to sing them, you might think so, for you see Billy has a rare disorder known as hyperdysphonia (hi–per-dis-fon-e-ah). He finds it difficult or impossible to use his singing voice, because the muscles in his voice box behave erratically, causing his voice to crack or sound strangled. There is no cure. Billy Foote has been a worship leader since graduating from college in Texas in 1990, and 10 years later he discovered he had this condition. His wife Cindy is also a musician, and has become the “voice” for Billy’s compositions, including “You Are God Alone”. I wonder, what would I do if something so crucial for my livelihood was stripped from me? Could I adapt, or would I be muted, frustrated? The great composer Beethoven became stone deaf, yet continued to create – an awesome thing you might even label as a miracle. Indeed, with God, all things are possible, an axiom we accept as believers. When Moses forgot that, God’s exasperation was evident -- (Exodus 4:11-12) 11 The LORD said to him, "Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the LORD ? 12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." Finally, the Lord consented to Moses’ complaint, and allowed Aaron to be his speaker, his voicebox. The way God has worked in the Footes’ lives, you might say that Cindy Foote has become Billy’s “Aaron”, a providential gift. ‘God provides’, the Footes could well say. But, let’s say ‘God provides’ with the emphasis on GOD, and not the provision He gives – that’s the outlook Billy Foote seems to have throughout “You Are God Alone”. ‘When Billy writes ‘that’s just the way it is’, he’s not suggesting that we groan, or shrug about our fate. Instead, it’s our trust, our confidence in Him, our freedom from futile striving, that we lay at His feet as we sing.

The information on the Footes was obtained at: http://cdbaby.com/cd/bcfoote2 The information on dysphonia is at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spasmodic_dysphonia