I often hear people say that God is so far away and they look up and look for Him.

I don't have to look far because God is in my fingers and He is very talented.

God knew what life I would get and has good intentions with me, because He has inspired me to perform beautiful works on the piano and through my intuition He speaks to me and shows me my life path.

Jesus knows like no other what suffering is, I have known it myself for 60 years, as a child very young the painful congenital back problems began to manifest themselves, and this pain has never gone away, not even after many operations.

That is why I was given a talent, to become a musician and pianist and He walks with me every day for more than four hours over the keys of my piano.

With every work, God is in my fingers and intuitively shows me the way.

The touch, the touch on the piano, there are a hundred different forms of that, which I practice every day.

It is not just pressing a key, but you bring a composer to life.

The touch works creatively.

While playing the piano you are unconsciously or consciously very busy with God, because I was allowed to receive that talent and my faith plays out in the beautiful works and my fingers and my ears correct everything.

I also feel intensely grateful for this musical gift.

For example, I often hear myself say quick prayers during my studies or in piano lessons, because you have to go through yourself, and that is often a very difficult path, because during your studies your inner blockages are exposed, that is why music lessons are very good for training perseverance.

Studying the piano is very healthy for body and mind, it promotes your concentration and you get a better memory, certainly at my age of 67.

I also give piano lessons myself and you share your talent, you do not use it for yourself and I enjoy it very much when my students make progress, but I also see their difficulties during the lessons that they have to go through and in my studio behind the piano a lot often happens.

I have great admiration for every student, especially for Freddy - our mentally handicapped son - who is doing incredibly well with piano playing.

Working with both hands is good for his brain and both hemispheres are used.

Playing the piano has also promoted his growth.

I also have students who are mentally handicapped, have congenital abnormalities in their arms, shoulders or hands and have suffered a stroke and are paralyzed.

They learn to play the piano with their paralyzed hand through trial and error - often with many tears.

That is the miracle of God in this talent.

In this way I can also teach people - who can never go to an arts center or conservatory because of their handicap.

Who is God to me,

A good friend, with whom I feel safe and secure, and He gives me a beautiful talent, in which I never have to feel lonely and alone.

I can always immerse myself in my studies and am baptized in music every day.

What a privileged person I am!

I stopped playing the piano in 2018 because I had two strokes and my eye-hand coordination is no longer in order.

The high level of the past was no longer attainable and I did not want to sink to a lower level.

Gradually everything in me was stopped and I notice that it was and is good.

I do'nt  stop this piano study myself, but it happens inside me and that is a sign that it is enough.

It brings peace with it.

When listening to music, especially oratorios and cantatas by Bach, I feel incredibly supported by those beautiful texts, as if they were written for me, also with the arias and complete oratorios that I was allowed to sing as a soloist in churches.

January 2019

Marianneke Beurskens