I Am Going To Be A Singer!
Rev. Rick J. Musick
My name is Carolina ‘Aleman’ Musick and this is my story.
I was raised in a small farming town in West Texas called Memphis, Texas, population two-thousand four-hundred, or so the sign reads.
I come from a rather large family; my parents Noe and Josephine, four brothers; Adam, Osbaldo, Noe Jr. and David. Four sisters; Mary, Ruth, Estella and Lisa. I am the middle child. The pivot on the seesaw!
With that many mouths to feed, and this being cotton country, we worked the fields every summer, every day, all day long. From when the sun came up in the morning until ten long hours past. We hoed long furrowed rows, stretching, it seemed, from here to eternity. We worked long hot days, hoeing weeds around the cotton stalks, swatting flies and wondering why God made gnats and longing for a cool drink of water at the end of the row.
We didn't sit down until noon, then we'd sit on the shady side of the old farm truck, eating our fried chicken, home made tortillas, listening to the radio. We'd hear songs from Kitty Wells, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Buck Owens, Charlie Pride and so on.
There’s not much to do in the middle of a cotton field. You can only throw so many dirt clods before getting caught, and a loud scream would alert Mom that one of the boys was chasing one of the girls with, yet another, grass hopper, lizard, or horned toad. You've never been spanked until you have been spanked with a cotton stalk. You take to hoeing cotton very quick if you know Josephine Aleman ‘has had enough’!
So, with nothing to do between the long rows of cotton, I'd sing the songs I'd heard on the radio. No audience, but my brothers, sisters, and bugs. I'd sing, and sing, and sing. My brothers would pick at me and beg me to, ‘stop singing, p-l-e-a-s-e stop singing! I'd remind them that this is a free country and I could sing if I wanted to. Besides all that, I thought I sounded somewhat like Dolly Parton!
One day, I boldly announced to the laughing and jeers of my older siblings that, “I was going to be a singer!”
Little did I know that God was using the cotton field, an old radio, and a desire to sing to form my future.
Sarah, a long time school friend invited me to a revival that her church was having. It was a Saturday night. The last night of the meeting. I did not have anything better to do so I decided to go.
In Memphis, Texas it seems like everybody knows what everybody’s dogs name is. So when I walked into that small church heads turned, and you could see the surprised look on their faces. Miracles do happen! Carol Aleman came to church!
They were a lively bunch, singing jubilant songs about Heaven, and praising the Lord with all of their hearts. Goodness, they were a happy bunch! The service went on and the Spirit of the Lord was there and I was feeling things that I'd never felt before.
The pastor asked if anyone would like to testify. Several stood and thanked the Lord for healing, or for blessing them, for answering prayers, or for just being such a good God. For some reason I stood up! Not knowing what to say, I simply said from my heart, “I am so tired.”
I don’t know if I was just tired from chopping cotton, or from working long hours at a restaurant, or just simply tired of living the way I had been living. What I do know is this. As soon as I said, “I am so tired” the Spirit of the Lord hit me like a mighty rushing wind, and the glory of God filled my soul! I was forgiven, converted, and saved in a matter of moments. It did not take the amazing grace of God long to get into my heart. I was gloriously filled with His Holy Spirit.
I woke up Sunday morning to a brand new world, the sky seemed bluer, the grass greener, the birds sang louder, and even the cotton was whiter. Now, I thought, I really have something to sing about!
I went to my first Sunday morning service, greeted with love from my new church family. I was now, Sister Carol. After the service the pastor asked, “Would you like to sing next Sunday morning?” I was shocked and surprised that he asked me so soon. I replied, “Yes sir I will.” That was twenty-five-years-ago!
God has blessed me in so many ways. Twenty-one years ago I married a preacher. We got married in my home church right there in Memphis, Texas. God blessed us with two beautiful girls, Andrea and Amanda. I've been blessed to sing for His glory from Texas to Tennessee, from New York to Arizona and points in between.
So, how did God bless me? In 1994 I won the ‘Sing Out America’ singing contest. For a couple of days my husband and I were treated like royalty. We were set up in a five star motel, ‘fancy place!’ I would not say we were actually poor at the time, however five star motels in down town Nashville were not in our budget.
We drove a car that was mechanically challenged. The reverse gear was out, the drivers side door would not open, the muffler had fallen off, and the tires were as bald as my father’s head, those wonderful electric windows refused to work, and the air conditioner retired a long time ago. Yet, here we were in Nashville. The company that sponsored the contest flew us there, put us in this swanky motel and escorted us to the Dove Awards via a stretched white Limo. The next day, I recorded a soundtrack with ‘Praise Hymn’ Sound tracks. We were having a wonderful time! Nobody in Tennessee knew that, by now, we only had about twenty-five bucks. God has amazing ways of blessing His children.
Another highlight on my journey of pleasing the Lord is when I was asked to sing a solo at church’s annual General conference that was held in Phoenix, Arizona. How did a little insignificant nobody from the cotton fields of Memphis, Texas, go to singing before a conference of about five thousand? Simply amazing. Undeserved? Perhaps. Yet, much appreciated.
Things have changed, years have passed the girls are about grown, and guess where we are pasturing? Memphis, Texas.
I'm not chopping cotton anymore! I'm the pastor’s wife of some of the same precious people that were there on that glorious night of my conversion. I'm still singing in the same church I sang my first solo in twenty-five-years ago.
My daughter, Andrea came to me when she was about nine-years old and said, “Mommy, I going to be a singer!” I hugged her tight, and smiled from the depths of my heart, and thought, ‘I don’t doubt it for a minute!’
Much has changed from the time o this writing. The girls are grown and on their own. Carol and I are grandparents of a beautiful little girl, Aubrey-Anna. I am an evangelist preaching anywhere that God opens a door. Carol still sings!
Rick Oct. 2011
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