The Psalms Project
The Story of the Psalms Project
The Psalms Project began twenty years ago in 1982. I owned a Christian Bookstore in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho and the Lord began saying to me, " It's coming, it's coming, I'm going to open doors for you, you're going to love it, it's going to be wonderful!" For a whole year, He kept saying this, and at the end of the year, we got transferred to Honolulu, Hawaii. Almost immediately, I met Phyllis Ramia, who as known as the Spiritual Mother of the Entertainers on the island, because she had led so many of them to the Lord and had mentored them. Her Grandfather was a part of Zion city and Azusa Street, and that prophetic mantle had been passed down to her. We became like twin sisters.
Shortly after we met, she began saying to me, " Rosalie, you are going to be known for singing the Psalms. you must begin." Two years later we moved to Missoula, Montana and every time we would talk on the phone she would say, "Have you begun?" and I would say, " I trust you, I believe you, but I don't know how to begin." Then, on my birthday, March 21, 1989, she called, sang Happy Birthday to me, and then once again, " Have you begun?" when we hung up I immediately opened my Bible to the shortest Psalm, 117, with anticipation of what God was going to do.The melody was just there! I excitedly recorded that I heard. Seventeen days late,r on April7, Phyllis cane to visit me in Missoula, Montana, and she prophesied over me once again that I would be singing the Psalms: "The Lord created you to be a bitty songbird that rests on His Hand. For the rhythm and the melody of the Lord shall come to you like streams of water flowing from Heaven. And the song is already written, so you don't have to plan it. the melody is already Heaven sent, airborne to you, so you don't have to struggle for it. " One week later I received the music for Psalm 124 and the adventure had begun. And yet I thought, I have the rest of my life to do this, and so it took me two years to do the first 20 Psalms, recording them in my pantry in Montana.
In 1992 I moved to Post Falls, Idaho with an urgency to complete the Psalms. I began living and breathing the Psalms day and night. The next four years I spent in m laundry room, my "sound studio." Every day as I worshiped Him, He would sing in my ears the beautiful melodies and show me which Psalm they belonged to. then we would work on them together, usually till about 2:00 a.m. in the morning when I'd say. "Lord I really don't want to stop but I've got to go to bed, I 'm so tired." And then I would play them on my stereo all night as I slept so they would become part of the fiber of my being and so I could memorize the music and the many words.
In 1993, I began working at Koinonia House Ministries with Chuck an Nancy Missler, donating my time because it was such as blessing and they gave me all the materials from their ministry. Every year they would take a tour to Israel and host a conference for an update of the building of the third temple in Jerusalem. they had given me all of the tape sets from those conferences. Gershon Salomon, Founder and Chairman of the Temple Mount & Land of Israel Faithful Movement, was always the keynote speaker for those conferences. When I heard him speak on the tapes, I just cried and knew I had to meet him and ask him two questions." Has anyone put the whole Psalms to music, word for word, since David, and is there any record of David's music?" The following year, March 1994, I went to Israel with Chuck and Nancy Missler, not only to enjoy being in Israel, but especially to meet Gershon Salomon and ask him those two questions. I thought if anyone would know the answers, he would. He was so gracious and when I asked my two questions, his answer was, "No." I told him the Lord had given me the music prophetically to 80 of the Psalms so far, word for word, and would he like to listen to them. He was excited about it and listened to all 80 in a 24 hours period, saying that he had cried through them all, the God had given me this project to do and I must complete it. He said, " I promise you this that they will be put in the Temple Mount Museum."
The next year I literally ate and breathed and slept Psalms 24 hours a day, and one week before I returned to Israel February 1995, with Chuck and Nancy Missler, I finished all 150 of the Psalms! I knew Psalm 119 would be the last one the Lord and I did, and it was. I had taken all 150 Psalms to Israel with me on eight, ninety minute cassette tapes, simply to show Gershon Salomon that the music to all 150 Psalm was on Israeli soil for the first time in 2000 years. I went home and got all the music copyrighted and waited for 7 years to see what wonderful thing God would do with the music.
September 1999 I went back to Israel with Roberta Hromas, with the American Christian Trust, Sanctuary of Prayer in Washington, D.C. and Pavilion of Praise in Jerusalem. She made it possible for me to sing the Psalms prophetically across Israel. That was such a thrill for me.
Then on December 12, 2001, I got a phone call from a producer, Robert Metzgar, in Nashville, Tennessee, and he offered to produce the Psalms for me. I arrived on January 1, 2002 and we began recording with Tony Migliore the arranger, and many wonderful musicians.
Exactly 20 years before, the Lord had said, "It's coming, it's coming,I'm going to open doors for you, you're going to love it, it's going to be wonderful", and truly the adventure of a lifetime had begun!