I have fond memories of my church’s animated response when Becky sang “Waymaker” by Billy Rivers. The verse—“When I was down to my last dime, Jesus stepped right in within a nick of time. He opened doors that I could not see. He makes a way for me”—never failed to bring us to our feet.
Becky and I attended the same church for many years. Her children attended my husband’s children’s church services and were on the Junior Bible Quiz team. My husband and I were sad when they moved to the East Coast. I doubted I’d see Becky again, but I was wrong. We reconnected on Facebook, where I learned about the release of her debut album, Come Away. Always looking for people to write about, I looked up Becky’s phone number. She told me how God made a way to fulfill a dream he had planted in her heart as a child.
Becky used to wrap her head in a towel, stand in front of a mirror, and imitate Cher as she sang into her hairbrush and dreamed of becoming a singing sensation. When she was ten years old, the choir director at her church gave her the only solo in a musical presentation. The congregation’s enthusiastic response hooked Becky on performing. She hoped to pursue a career in music, but her father persuaded her that a medical career would be more stable.
When Mike, her high-school sweetheart, proposed, Becky reassessed her faith. Her parents were committed Christians who brought her to church every Sunday. Mike attended her church, but only so he could play on the church’s softball team. He had not made a commitment to Christ. His marriage proposal left Becky at a crossroads: abandon church when she married or live the rest of her life as a Christian. “I remember making the conscious decision that I would live the Christian life. Two months after we married, Mike accepted Christ as his Savior,” said Becky.
Becky settled into her chosen profession and found an outlet for her music in her church’s choir. Her love for nursing softened the bitterness of abandoning her dream. She accepted that her music would never be heard by anyone other than her family, friends, and church.
She never regretted her decision to become a nurse. Her involvement in medical missions through Operation Blessing International made it possible for her to travel the world helping the poor. While on a mission in El Salvador, she was asked to work on an airplane being converted into a flying hospital by Operation Blessing in Virginia Beach.
Becky called her husband to discuss the prospect of moving to Virginia. He had recently seen an ad for an engineer in that area. Mike wasn’t qualified for the position but told Becky he would send a résumé. Three months later, the company hired him, and they moved to Virginia, where her musical ability found a new field of expression. The pastor at her church asked Becky to lead worship.
“God never forgot the dreams he put in my heart from conception,” said Becky. “When a close friend asked, ‘If you could do anything in the world, what would it be?’ My answer surprised even me! I said, ‘I would be a singer.’ Then another friend asked me if I had written my first song yet. I thought she was crazy and dismissed the idea.”
The following year, Becky was flying home from Mongolia and needed something to occupy her time. She withdrew pen and paper from her briefcase and wrote the lyrics to her first song, and the flow of songs never stopped. About that time her daughter, Allison, married Curtis, a gifted musician who writes music and plays multiple instruments. They made a good team, and it wasn’t long before they were composing songs for the worship service at their church.
Curtis had dreamed of owning his own recording studio. Mike and Becky invested in their son-in-law’s dream, and Ripple Studios was born. Curtis serves as president and Becky as vice president. The studio has produced ten CDs and is currently working on eight more projects, including a project for Universal Records and an artist from Disney Radio.
“We have purchased our own building and are members of the Recording Academy—the Grammys,” said Becky. “I am vocal coaching several artists, and my favorite thing to do is help them learn harmony parts and background vocals for their own original songs. I’m having a blast with music, but I haven’t abandoned medical missions. I still go on three or four trips a year.”
Ripple Studios also produced Becky’s debut album, Come Away. She wrote nine of the ten songs. “I was in a dark place emotionally when I wrote ‘Because of You,’ the first song on the album. My mom had passed away, and I missed her. Writing the song released my grief, and I started living again. I wrote ‘You Are God’ in less than twenty minutes, printed it, and placed it on Curtis’s desk. A couple of months later, the lyrics were still on his desk. ‘This is really good. Who wrote this?’ I asked Curtis. I had completely forgotten that I wrote it. ‘You Are God’ is one of the best songs I’ve ever written and became the third song on the album.”
Becky paused. “Am I giving you too much information?”
“Not at all. I’ll take everything you are willing to share.”
“I’m not going to tell you my weight.”
I stifled my laughter, and our conversation strayed into personal matters as we discussed mutual acquaintances. I hung up without learning Becky’s weight, but I did learn something weightier: the remarkable ability of God to direct us onto the path he has prepared for us.
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