Saving Grace

Chapter 6

"I'm happy you're here." Isaiah tells me as I walk into the studio.

I was shocked when the GPS informed me that the location he shared with me was a recording studio. However, I'm not all that surprised seeing that most in his field of work tend to try their hands as music as well. Hopefully I won't have to sit through him singing any choppa music.

I smiled stiffly at him and he gave me an awkward hug wish I was too slow to return. I was nervous and my hands were shaking.

"You don't have to be nervous Grace. I don't bite." He says and I faked a smile.

I was really regretting the lie I told my parents to come here. I've been doing that a lot lately it seems, lying. It's not Christ-like and I need to stop.

"So, a studio huh?" I say awkwardly.

I didn't know what else to say.

"Yep, you said you could sing right? This is right place for that." He says with a smirk.

"Have you ever been in a recording booth before?" He ask after some time.

I nod.

"Oh really, let me find out you're a professional, Miss Grace." He says and we both chuckled.

"No, but my church's regional youth choir would record covers of different gospel songs each year. I used to be in the studio quite often." I explained to him.

" Used to?" He asked and I paused at his attention to details.

"Yeah, I'm not a part of it anymore." I say sadly and his eyes grew curious.

I was bracing myself for him to ask more questions but thankfully he changed the subject.

"Well, that makes my job ten times easier then" he says, touching random buttons on the control panel.

What exactly is this man up to?

"And what exactly is your job? What do you do?" I asked, walking over to join him by the controls.

He looked up at me and smiled but said nothing. He only tinkered with a few buttons and then I heard a very familiar producer tag

"This beat so fire, xiah"

I looked at him with my mouth wide open.

He just sat there smiling at me.

The sentence was floating around in my head but I couldn't seem to formulate the actual words.

How is this even possible?

I've heard that tag on so many of my favorite R&B songs. He has worked with so many of my favorite secular artists, how is he even here? In front of me?

This man has met Chris Brown.

"You're playing games with me." I said, after finally finding my voice.

This has got to be a prank.

"Do you know how to read music?" Isiah asked, ignoring my previous statement.

He is pulling my legs right? Here I was thinking this man is a full fledge choppa and he is a Grammy award winning producer?

Xiah at that? Sounding it out in my head it does makes sense if you only say the last two syllables in his name.

He was staring at me while I had a battle in my head.

"Grace..,?" He calls out in a questioning tone.

What do I do now?

I looked at him curiously.

"Do you know how to read music?" He asked again.

Answer him you idiot!

"Uhm, yeah. Yes, I can." I finally spoke up.

He smiled and pulled out a few music sheets.

"Good. I want you to sing something specific for me. Is that okay?" He asked, handing me the papers.

I nodded as I looked at the notes and lyrics scrawled in blue ink.

"The entrance to the recording room is through that door." His voice caused my head to raise up just in time to see him pointing behind me.

I spun around and spot the black door that I overlooked this entire time. He wants me to sing on record?

"Are you trying to steal my killer vocals for your next record?" I asked playfully.

Turning around to face Isiah, I realized he wasn't laughing at my joke.

"No, I'm not. I'm just trying to hear your voice." He says in a somber tone making me nod.

I walked through the door that led to the recording room. There was a stool, a mic stand, a music sheet stand and a pair of headphones.

Walking into the middle of the room I rested the sheet on the holder and adjusted the mic.

"Put on those headphone." His voice came over the speakers in the room frightening me a bit. I jumped in shock.

I forgot he was there for s second.

With nervous hands I carefully lifted the headphones and placed them on my head. The room became ten times quieter and I could hear myself breathing.

"Speak into the mic for me Grace." Isaiah's soothing voice whispered into my ear.

I guess he realized that he startled me before.

"I'm nervous." I said, speaking into the mic

"You don't have to be. We're just having fun."

I nodded to this but my fingers were busy tapping at my thigh. I hope that I don't mess up and embarrass myself in front of this man lord.

Music started playing through the headphones and I realized they were the tune to the notes on the sheet.

Quickly I glanced at the lyric and waited for my cue.

I followed along to the notes, humming the keys until I finally reached the part that had lyrics, then I sang.

🎶 You are Jireh, You are enough
Jireh, You are enough
And I will be content in every circumstance
You are Jireh, You are enough🎶

When the music faded, I looked out into the control room to see Isiah hunched over the controls crying.

Like he was full on sobbing and I was frozen in place.

What is happening right now.

I removed the headphone, placing them back on their holder and backed away from the mic. Should I stay here or should I go out there and be with him?

Something in my spirit was pushing for the latter. I quickly exited the room and approached the crying man. These weren't silent tears, he was bawling.

My natural instinct was to hug him, so that's what I did. I pulled him into my arms and rocked us from side to side, while I hugged him tightly.

His pain was palpable and I could feel it engulfing us. Without even noticing that I was doing it, I started to pray. The spirit of Yahweh was thick in the atmosphere and I could feel the transition from English to tongues as he moved around us.

I'm not sure exactly what I was praying for but i knew within my soul that I needed to pray for comfort, forgiveness and strength.

Im not sure how long I prayed for, nor am I sure what happened but when I was finally conscious again, I found myself and Isaiah both cuddled up in the couch in the very dark studio.