Instruments of Worship
The Instruments of Worship Podcast, hosted by Casey Rinkenberger, is dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments and their lives. Tune in every Monday for a new episode!
Instruments of Worship
A Musician's Life Rewritten: From Cancer to Clarity with Sarah Gentry | Ep. 17
Today we have the immense privilege of getting to hear from the kindness and wisdom of Sarah Gentry! Sarah has had an extensive violin career, but the Lord used her 2019 cancer diagnosis to teach her many things. She is kind enough to invite us into that and share with us today.
Check out these books that Sarah referenced in today's episode!
Discussion questions - Try reflecting on your own or with a group:)
- How were you most encouraged by Sarah's story?
- Is Jesus Christ your greatest treasure? If not, what or who is?
- How would you react if you suddenly were unable to play your instrument?
- How might the Lord be drawing you nearer to Himself through this season?
- How can you worship the Lord in the season you are currently in?
- What’s something about the character of God that stood out to you from today’s episode?
Thanks so much for listening! Make sure to check back every Monday for a new episode!
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Hi friends, my name is Casey Rinkenberger and I am so excited to welcome you to the Instruments of Worship podcast. This is a podcast dedicated to encouraging and equipping classical musicians to lift high the name of Jesus with their instruments, but also their lives. Today we have the immense privilege of getting to hear from the kindness and wisdom of Sarah Gentry. Sarah has had an extensive violin career, but the Lord used her 2019 cancer diagnosis to teach her many things. Well, hi, Sarah. Thank you so much for being willing to come on the podcast. Hi, Casey. I'm excited to be here. Oh, we are too. So I'd love to just go ahead and start and get kind of a background of your musical journey as a whole. So when did you start violin? How did that kind of come about? Sure. I
SPEAKER_02:started violin as a Suzuki student.
SPEAKER_01:Okay. I don't think you
SPEAKER_02:did that. Yeah. I was six years old. As it so happened, I was in Louisiana. I was born in Monroe, Louisiana. And the school I went to, one of my... kids in my class, they happened to be the son of the violin professor at the university there in town. And that violin professor happened to be really interested and was an early pioneer of Suzuki program in the United States. Wow. So they offered Suzuki at the school and I came home with a little flyer, like, you know, sign me up for violin. Yeah. That's how I started. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. Well, that's so awesome. So then from there, did you just continue it and develop a love or how did you eventually go from that to knowing you wanted to pursue it as a career?
SPEAKER_02:Well, yes, it turned out. I excelled at it pretty quickly, you know, and then grew up like it was a special thing that I did. And all of the years of my life was just very, as a kid, you know, I did. always the private lessons and you know oh you go to the Suzuki program things oh what book are you in oh what piece are you on you know all of this and I was you know as a little youngster I had a very competitive nature and I always have and that's Oh, that's been actually a big struggle in my life. But so I could see that I had some gifts in the area. And through junior high, high school and everything, I did all the youth symphonies and all stayed. And, you know, it was just one of the big things that I enjoy doing. So, yeah.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So then you decided you want to pursue it. Where did you go to school? And then what was your experiences like there?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, well, I started off at LSU from Louisiana. That was the first launching pad. And, you know, goodness gracious. To be honest, the reason I went to LSU is that's where my boyfriend was at school. But they had a very good violin teacher. Okay. But the summer before I started at LSU, well, he broke up with me, and so that was that.
SPEAKER_01:But I still
SPEAKER_02:went to LSU, and I had a great violin teacher. It's a bigger program now than it was when I was there, but I had lots of good successes there. I was a little bit of a big fish in a small pond.
UNKNOWN:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02:While I was there, I also did some summer music festivals, and so I could see the music world out of that little narrow scope of Louisiana. I went to a couple of years at Sewanee Summer Music Festival, and I did a couple of summers at Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, which was a real eye-opener for students there from Juilliard and just all over. So I was beginning to get a taste of what the whole scope of the musical climate might be, you know, in more competitive sorts of situations in schools. From LSU, then, I went to Yale for my master's, and that connection was a violin teacher at Yale, Sidney Harth, came to LSU and did a master class when I was maybe a junior, so I made a connection with him, and then went to Yale, and whoo, more eye-opening experiences, really great students there, some great experiences. And then I went to Indiana for my doctorate connection there with a teacher again that was recommended to me. And then even more eye-opening experiences at Indiana. Honestly, when I was there, I felt like I was in over my head. Just such great talent. But that got my doctorate there.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So then did you always know you wanted to pursue your doctorate? Did you know like from bachelor's degree?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, wow. Well, you know, I started and got the bachelor's degree because I did violin so much. I was like, I don't know what else I want to do. So let's just keep playing music. When I got to Yale and I had my first like real pondering, okay, how am I going to make a living at this and seeing all of the incredible musicians around me? I really started to have some doubts about my career path. I remember calling my dad. I said, was at Yale for just a few weeks, maybe right at the beginning of my time there. And I said, I don't know if I want to do music. And he said, well, what do you want to do? I didn't have an answer for that. So I kept going. And at Yale, actually, there was a student colleague of mine a year or two older than I was, you know, and this is, I mean, I'm going to speak candidly. Your reality is you're, you're, you're trying to be the best you can at your craft and you see all of the competition around you. And I saw this one particular colleague a year or two older than me. And in my estimation, I thought, I think I can do better than that guy. He got a college job. I thought, hmm. So I was pretty... good with academics. I liked, I liked things. I liked music history. I like music theory and all the stuff that you have to, um, be able to stomach to keep, keep going on through more and more degrees. So I thought, okay, I can, I can go for this doctorate. And I think the thing, and I look back to my first teacher at LSU, Sally O'Reilly, she left LSU shortly after I, uh, you know, you're, you just have a face.
SPEAKER_00:Yes. I, um, I had a masterclass with Sally O'Reilly at Baylor and she wrote that fiddle magic book that I recommend to so many students. So I just really grew to like her. And yeah, when you said that, I was just, oh, sweet.
SPEAKER_02:She's such a character, but she left and went to, well, I guess she's still at Minnesota, but she was a little bit of the role model that I had because I saw, okay, She's teaching. She's, well, not so much now, but then, you know, perform. I don't know if she's performing now, but
SPEAKER_01:she's
SPEAKER_02:performing. And so, you know, the idea of the college job, I think I may be able to get a college job. And I like the idea of that variety, teaching, performing. So that's the direction I went. Yeah. So
SPEAKER_00:it really sounded like you just wanted to do it all.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and I have to say, I enjoy playing in orchestras, but I also, I could see to win those jobs. I didn't think that was going to be reality for me, professional. There's so many notes in these violin parts, Casey. I know. I know, even just a short excerpt. I know. I mean, I'm very practical-minded. I'm like, how am I going to make this work? And that was the route.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Okay. So then where did you, you got your doctorate. What came after that? Where did you land? So
SPEAKER_02:right after I finished my coursework for my doctorate, there was another year of written exams and oral exams. So I had a year of that before I actually was looking for jobs. And I got married right in between that. in that year. So my husband and I, we were in Lafayette, Indiana for one year. He's a police officer in Lafayette. So that was that transition year. Then I did, I applied for all the college jobs that were open. I got a couple of interviews and one of which was at ISU and I got both of the jobs, took the one at ISU. And that was in 1992 and I was 27 years old.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. Oh, my goodness. That's incredible. Wow. How was your transition to more of the professional world from being in school for so long? Was that a hard jump? And what did that look like? It
SPEAKER_02:was hard because when I got the job at ISU, I had not completed the doctorate yet. I still had to do a doctoral document, maybe a couple of recitals, and then my final orals. ISU was great. I got hired. I was very intimidated.
SPEAKER_01:All
SPEAKER_02:my colleagues were 20 plus years. Fantastic cello player there at the time. Amazing Koi Iwasaki. An amazing man and player. So I just felt, wow, what a blessing that I got this job. And who am I to have this job, to be honest with you? And the challenge is when I got there, there were three violin students. So I needed to, obviously, they wanted to see if I could get in the studio. Holy cow, wow. Yeah, and gradually that did happen. I had some challenges because I had some health issues. I have Crohn's disease. My second year at ISU, I've spent
SPEAKER_01:a
SPEAKER_02:couple of months away from school. I had to have surgery, and it kind of interrupted me finishing the doctorate. I was an adult, and it felt hard to be an adult.
SPEAKER_01:I
SPEAKER_02:had the job, I had to finish the doctorate, and was having the health challenges, but got through it. And as time went on at ISU and get more experience teaching, and I can remember when I first got there, my goodness, I dressed up every day. Because I needed to look different than the students. Because at age 27, I didn't look so different. But as time went on, obviously, we got a studio. And I felt a little more like hitting my stride. Yeah, this is a wonderful opportunity and place to be. And I'm so blessed to have it. So
SPEAKER_00:you did really enjoy your time and that you were thankful you decided to go that route in music? Yeah, as
SPEAKER_02:far as options in the music world, I couldn't, there's no other really direction that I could see myself doing in terms of doing music as a full-time job. College route is about all I could see that I was interested in, I suppose. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:And then did you still perform? And obviously HFO came along at some point in there. Can you describe that?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Well, the first 10 years at or eight years or so at ISU, I did play with Peoria Symphony assistant concertmaster there. And I did concertmaster of Illinois Opera, which was a couple of things a year. I started a family in 2000. My son was born and I quit playing. Peoria and then HFO didn't come along until 2011 so my son was born in 2000 my daughter in 2004 and so I actually scaled back that performing part because it takes away your time evenings you know and weekends and things and so I just needed to carve out more time to be with kids right
SPEAKER_00:Right. And then 2011, though, became concertmaster of HFO.
SPEAKER_02:Concertmaster of HFO. That was a wonderful blessing. A lot of fun. Still had kids. I had an 11-year-old and a 7-year-old. And so the nice thing, though, about HFO, and it was kind of a shock. Oh, two rehearsals and a concert? What? Yeah. But... Less time away from home. True.
SPEAKER_00:Yes, that seems to be becoming the new norm for regional orchestras. Is it really? Okay. Very short turnaround time. Yeah. So I'd love to backtrack now and just kind of hear from you, though. Where was it kind of in your life where you became a Christian, where you first came to know Jesus as your Lord and Savior?
SPEAKER_02:Right. Well, I grew up in a Christian home. So blessed that that's the case. Always in the church, my mom and dad serving in various ways. I was seven when I became a believer, and I can remember talking with my mom about it and talking to our pastor. So I'll have to say I can't ever remember not knowing Jesus.
SPEAKER_00:So, blessing. So I'm just also curious because part of the reason why I started this podcast is just being a Christian in the music world does feel like a unique opportunity, but also with its own set of kind of challenges and struggles. So as you, you know, you were a believer, but then starting this whole music career, was it hard to do that as a Christian? Like, did you struggle making music at Idol or just, you know, the love of position or influence or even having a busy schedule? What was that like for you at that time in your life?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I have to say I've done a lot of evaluating in the past few years of my life and things that I actually knew to be true all along that have really come to grips with. I was a believer. God was first and foremost in big decisions in my life related to my married partner, married Christian husband.
SPEAKER_01:To
SPEAKER_02:be honest, I compartmentalized other parts of my life, and I did not necessarily view my classical music as an area that I consulted God in, to
SPEAKER_01:be
SPEAKER_02:honest with you. I played at my church a lot, and oh, what a worshipful experience to honor God through the different hymns or worship songs. For me, I've always had a problem with, I said earlier in the podcast about being a very competitive and sort of a perfectionist. And that's kind of like a control issue, I think. And so I was always working and striving hard to... play this better or not make this mistake or be the kind of musician that I needed to be in the role I was in. And it was a lot of striving, a lot of striving for this illusion of good enough. And God wasn't really a part of that consultation. And if he had been for me, Boy, I'm sure he would have opened my eyes to a lot of things regarding you need to not be so concerned about what people think. You need to not be so concerned about every little detail that you are just obsessing over. Mm-hmm. And ironically, I knew this about myself, but I couldn't let it go. In my teaching, I felt like at ISU because I could see this in my students. You know, we have masterclasses they have to perform and they're scared and they're nervous. And I would give them pep talk after pep talk. And those that were believers, we would pray about all of this. So this has always been in my mind about And I've grown and changed and evolved. I mean, when I came and started at ISU, I came from competitive atmospheres where it's got to be good or it's just not the way it needs to be. And I evolved into it's not so much about always the end product, but the journey. And it's about your heart, especially as a believer. It's about your heart. And who are you doing this for? You know, I must say with my students, I mean, I hated that competitive atmosphere of always having to be good enough and never quite feeling you're missing the mark. It's kind of a definition for sin. But I know with my students, I tried to foster an atmosphere of coming alongside and encouragement in master classes because the fear is so debilitating.
SPEAKER_01:when
SPEAKER_00:you're akin being in the classical music world. It talks about in Proverbs how the fear of man is a snare, which a snare is a trap. And I just think that trap is something that so many classical musicians can fall into under the guise of just wanting to do well, but it all is about the heart. And I think you've just described that so well. I think everything you're describing, I can relate to, and I know lots of other people probably can. So I'm just thankful for just your honesty and sharing. Yeah. So I'm curious then, so you had your cancer diagnosis. Can you describe what that was like, how that changed and what it was like for you when you got it? Yeah,
SPEAKER_02:that was 2019 and it was a complete surprise. And it was a rather significant diagnosis, stage three. So I had all of the treatments. I had chemo where I lost my hair. I had a mastectomy. I had radiation and further chemo. The total amount of treatments were... from beginning to end was almost a year and a half. I took a semester off from ISU. I came back in the spring of 2020, like one week before the COVID shut down. Oh, wow. I was back at work and then shut down. So everything's online. And that was actually kind of a blessing for me physically at that point. The next year was a full year for me at ISU, which was my last year. The chemo had really, I think it was the chemo, had done a issue on my joints I had problems bending my left hand index finger I couldn't do it all the way and you actually need that to play and I had a torn rotator cuff also right in Christmas time before my very last semester I've had some physical issues with playing of I don't I I don't rotate this way as much as most normal people. So I played with my elbow around really far. I think God protected me for 50 years of playing. But suddenly, I mean, things broke down. And I feel like it's from all of that, the way I had to play. And I couldn't demonstrate in lessons. And I couldn't see going forward. performing was a big no way. So I did, I had enough time in that I could retire. I could get the pension. I just, I felt like that's what I needed to do. Well, and when that semester, last semester, I couldn't play it really at all, but I could, I could try to demonstrate certain things that they're on certain places on the fingerboard. But if
SPEAKER_01:it was,
SPEAKER_02:playing a low F natural on the E string where you have to extend your, there's just things I couldn't do. So no, I couldn't play. I would try to get out some snippets of this and that. Cause you have to, it's lessons, but I just couldn't see how I could go forward. But what has happened in the meantime, I I've changed my diet, which I think I had a lot of inflammation. So I eat a lot less sugar. That's been a big help. And, um, What has happened, I mean, I demonstrated, well, I can do things now. I can play now. I'm worried about the shoulders, so I don't want to spend a couple hours at a time in this violin playing position because I still have the same issue where I have to pull my elbow around too far. So any sort of extended playing, I don't want to do, but I can play. I can demonstrate lessons that I've played at church in the past year a few times. So that's been wonderful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. So what was that like for your faith though? I mean, your life was really flipped essentially upside down and how did that affect you on a spiritual level?
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, this was really huge in my life because when I was diagnosed, a colleague at ISU. His wife had just died from breast cancer exactly a year earlier. My son's first grade teacher died from breast cancer a few years after he was in first grade. This was a stage three diagnosis. There was a whole lot of fear. My daughter just finished her freshman year of high school. My son, freshman year of college. I was fearful for my life. So coming to grips with my mortality, I was 54 when I was diagnosed. I really wanted to be healed.
SPEAKER_01:But
SPEAKER_02:through this process, God showed me that, of course, I want physical healing. I'm praying for physical healing. But he showed me there's so many areas in my life where I needed spiritual healing. He opened my eyes to so many areas in my life that were sinful. You know, when you... You grow up on all the promises of the Bible, the hope of heaven, your knowledge of eternal life through Jesus Christ. That stuff becomes really real when it becomes time for it to potentially be yours for eternity because you might die. So the real, do I really trust these promises? And I came, obviously, I came to the conclusion that yes, I do. My only hope is in Christ. Without Him, there's nothing. And I learned that He's the greatest treasure more than anything this earthly life has for me. So I went through a whole lot. There's a lot of Bible verses that resonated with me because of my tendency to be this perfectionist, want to control things. But Verses like be still and know I am God. One translation says cease striving
SPEAKER_01:and
SPEAKER_02:know that I am God. The verse in Exodus says the Lord will fight for you. You only need to be still. And my whole life, I just did not, I did not allow God into every area of my life. It was about me striving, me working hard to achieve and I'm learning still learning every day that God is in every detail of our life and we need to surrender everything to him and so he's just he's shown me a lot in my life that I needed to change things about my heart so you know praise God as far as I know I'm cancer free um I go in for checks. I'm still on a certain kind of medicine that blocks estrogen that has some not so great side effects because I'll be battling osteoporosis because of it. But it was such a hard thing to go through, but it's been the biggest blessing, the cancer, because it has shown me and renewed and given me a relationship with Christ and God in a new way.
SPEAKER_01:I
SPEAKER_00:love how you said that something maybe that he revealed to you during that time is that Christ is the greatest treasure. And I think... He's even revealed that to me, even from just stepping away from some of the music things I was able to do in college and that maybe I don't do anymore. And I'm so thankful for that. And I think that, again, is another reason why I just wanted to start this podcast because so many musicians can think that their music is the greatest treasure or their ability, their talents. which God absolutely has a purpose and a plan for, and it's a gift, but we can make them ultimate things very, very quickly. And we forget that Christ is the ultimate treasure of our hearts. So I'm just curious. So then when you stepped away from music though, I mean, most musicians can't even fathom what that would be like to have an experience where you couldn't play anymore. And so did you miss it? What was that like for you?
SPEAKER_02:Well, honestly, it was a bit of a relief because if you hear me describing a lot of my thought processes of striving and working to achieve and be whatever I thought I needed to be, it was a bit of a relief. And well, let me just say this. The biggest difficulty I went through was trying to balance work, family, and And church. So I was teaching two-year-olds in our study school in our church all from, I don't know, I think it was from 2007 until I was diagnosed. And working with the Iwana program while I'm working at ISU, while I'm trying, there's too much. It was just too much. And I felt like I needed to do this job because that's the track that I thought I should be on. When I look back in my life, if I had to do it over again, something would be different because it was just too much for me. For me. So the biggest thing that I had when I retired was time. Wow. And that summer, the first thing I did was I went to a Bible study or a church, a women's Bible study. And I'd never had time to do that before. I mean, I was at church on Sunday mornings, but... to just delve into the word with women in a deep way, coming off of my sort of restoration and renewal in my relationship with Christ. So it was just, Christ is it. So coming away from music, my priorities in terms of all of that had completely changed. They're in alignment. Currently now, that's not a problem at all. You know, if we make anything the most important thing, when it's taken away, it's going to really be hard. But the journey with the cancer... I learned Christ and God is the most important thing. Now, I have to admit now, there's other areas of my life that do compete. All of us have areas that compete to try to be the most important thing. It could be family. It could be kids. I certainly don't have it all figured out. But when I stepped away from music, I was actually kind of exhausted. So it was fine. It wasn't a problem.
SPEAKER_00:It's kind of so sad that There are so many musicians out there who don't realize how crazy busy they are and what that means for their life and maybe some of the things that they have to sacrifice to continue to just keep up their music skills. I
SPEAKER_02:have to say I'm so thankful to the Lord. Some varies. I talked about there's too much. And so you feel like you don't do a good job at anything. And you feel like there's compromise everywhere. And by the grace of God, he took me through all of this. I mean, he was leading me through this busy time, even though I didn't let him into every area of my life. I was still connected. And Leading my kids to know Jesus was priority number one,
SPEAKER_01:because
SPEAKER_02:when they were born, that's the most important decision anyone will make, is what do you do with Christ? Do you accept him or not?
SPEAKER_01:So
SPEAKER_02:like I said, at some point, I had it right when it came to the big decisions in my life.
SPEAKER_01:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02:who I'm going to marry, the most important decision, salvation in Christ. And that never left me. There's verses in the Bible about, you know, we receive the Holy spirit and it's a deposit guaranteeing our salvation. So throughout this, this time of career, when I was distracted with all of the, Oh, I gotta be good enough. Um, and all of the striving God kept me through all of that. And
SPEAKER_01:so
SPEAKER_02:through his grace, um, Both of my kids, they know Christ and they're following him. I'm getting emotional about it because that's obviously the most important thing is your relationship with Christ. So even though I was super busy, God allowed his love to shine through and permeate important things in our family, in our family life. And I'm just so grateful to him for
SPEAKER_00:that. You know, it's, it's a part of his character just that he keeps us. Right. Even when we're hard to love, he loves us. Even when we don't love him well back, like, That's just who he is. And, and so, yeah, what a praise God for that. Absolutely. Yeah. So I just, I'm curious, do you have any sort of like looking back, you've learned all these things. Specifically, though, when it comes to like a classical musician who wants to to worship Jesus and wants to glorify him with their music, like how might you encourage them in? It's a it's a hard field to do that in sometimes, or at least it feels like it. But how would you encourage them? Well,
SPEAKER_02:I would say, my goodness, first of all, stay in the word of God. When you're full of God's word. And he's everything to you. Everything you do, you can worship and glorify him. I had so much time in my life where I wasn't in God's word regularly. And so I was sort of starving for it. So you need to be fed. There's 1 Thessalonians 5.16. Rejoice always. Next verse 17. Pray continually. And the next verse, 18, give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. But then practically, how do you live this out? I mean, as classical musicians, you're worried about what people think. Maybe you're a student, you're, you know, you're constantly getting evaluated by teachers and you want to take all of the advice. You know, it's different in different settings, you know. A nurturing, loving Christian teacher, that's what a blessing. If you're in a competitive environment where it's not necessarily a Christian setting, there can be a lot more challenges. But just the idea that what man thinks is not important, it never is and it never will be. There's a verse in John, and I don't know where it is, but it's just coming to mind about... people, Jesus, you know, in people's day, who did they think Jesus was? And some of them were saying, well, surely he must be the son of God. He's performing all these miracles. But Jesus, they said Jesus didn't entrust himself to their testimony. Jesus didn't entrust himself to man because he knew what was in the heart of man. And I don't know, that just, it just speaks to me that We can't put a lot of emphasis on what anybody thinks of us. We need to always keep God as big. You heard the phrase audience of one. Everything, of course, we do is for him. There's a couple of books that I've run across since I've been retired that would have been helpful for me years ago, but one's The Freedom of Self-Forgetfulness.
UNKNOWN:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02:Tim Keller. The Tim Keller book is short. It's really 60 pages, short and tiny. It's a great read. The other one is a little longer, a little more, gets into details of psychology. I read it once and I need to read it again, but it's called When People Are Big and God is Small by Edward Welch. You're nodding your head. Do you know these books? I know both of them. Yes. So good. Yeah. So, and Casey, I have to say, what you're doing with this podcast is so fantastic. And the way you're letting your light shine and bringing this out and discussing this. And you are so young, but yet God is using you. You are really a representative of Him. And it's just beautiful to see.
SPEAKER_00:Well, thank you. I mean... Again, it's all him, I feel like. We've talked about before on the podcast, just by the grace of God, I am what I am. And yeah, I'm thankful for all he's revealed to me too, even in the last year. It's crazy. And when we let
SPEAKER_02:go and let God, then it's amazing
SPEAKER_00:what he does, what he does. Right. His ways are so much better than ours. Yep. Yeah. So last official question. If you could go back and just tell your younger violinist self something, what would that be?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I think, boy, if you're a perfectionist, you need to start evaluating that. It's hard to live that way as a musician. We'll be perfect and play music perfectly in heaven someday. For myself, my younger violinist self, I had a lot of other interests besides violin, and I just, I didn't allow myself time to develop, I think, in every area of my life because I was so consumed with this one-track music. And it wasn't sustainable in a really healthy way for me. So that when I became an adult with a wife and family and all, if I had always been a single person, and that would have been one thing, but I, as a woman married and wanting kids, it was just a hard career choice for me to keep. So for me, my younger violinist self, you need to think big picture about how your life can unfold. Yeah. can look and be willing to maybe change course a little bit. Gosh, there's some of these adage, you know, you can, you know, women, you can do it all. Well, some women, maybe you can, but for me, it was too much. I treasure being a mom and having, you know, my family, you know, more than the career i did while i had the career i mean they were they were more important to me so i guess if i had to do it over again i might have re-evaluated how i would use music whether it would be a full-time career or part-time um given other things that i you know was blessed with obviously family and kids but yeah having options yeah it's a good thing
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. And I do feel like music is a career that you can do kind of to whatever extent you want. You know, that's honestly even one of the pros when I was trying to decide is depending on what season of life you're in, you can do as much or as little as you'd like, depending on which route you take. Yeah. So can you give us an update? How are you doing now? You said to your knowledge that you're cancer free. Are you feeling well? Are you playing? And what what are you doing these days that brings you joy?
SPEAKER_02:I'm feeling pretty good. I'm getting older, so I feel like I'm slowing down. But like I mentioned, as far as I know, I'm cancer-free, so praying that I always will be. But while I'm doing Bible studies, getting in the Word of God is just, you know, and knowing God and learning more and more about Him, there's nothing better. So that brings me great joy. involved with Bible study fellowship and I'm teaching kids. Uh, they're six and seven year olds in that program. So I'm doing that. And, um, at my church, I'm a, a WANA leader also involved with the same age group, six and seven year olds. Yeah. Sparks leader. Anyway. Um, but you know, I, I was a group leader one year at BSF a couple of years ago. Um, And I switched over to kids and I just enjoy the opportunity to teach. You know, teaching violin is wonderful and teaching God's word is just the best. Yeah. So, but then I have, I've got five private students. One of them's graduating from high school now and she's going to Belmont on a violin performance. And so I, I mean, she and I, we need to have conversations before she leaves about all of these. And she's a lovely believer. So she's going to be running into all of the things that you're talking about in your podcast. I'll refer this to her. Yeah. That is for sure. But I've enjoyed teaching privately. Just the five students, it's perfect. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:yeah. Was it hard for you to say yes to that first one, or were you excited to kind of get back into it?
SPEAKER_02:Well, I was a little hesitant because I wasn't sure if I could really demonstrate. It was the daughter of our School of Music director, and as it turned out, it She was a seventh grader at the time, and the level of music, it was okay. So we went forward, and it was a blessing. She was my student, only one for about six months. And then I added two more, one of which was the one that's about to graduate. And when I started with her, she was changing from a different teacher, and she was playing the last movement of Seth's song, concerto, you know. I've got to practice if I'm going to demonstrate in her lessons now. And so because of her repertoire, she's forced me to practice for at least 30 minutes a week. And my hand can, I've been able to handle it. And I'm grateful for that because it's shown me that I can do a little bit still. And then that got me back into now church the past year, almost year, been able to play with the orchestra. Yeah. playing one little with just a violin piano. And that was the first time sort of solo playing.
SPEAKER_01:It
SPEAKER_02:was a praise, but it almost feels like it's just take it or leave it. It's all, I think my biggest joy is, is studying God's word, to be honest with
SPEAKER_00:you.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
UNKNOWN:So.
SPEAKER_00:Well, that is so great. Sarah, we are just so thankful just that you're willing to come and share your story and what God has done. And yeah, so just thanks for taking the time and praise God for his amazing work in your life.
SPEAKER_01:Thank you.