Precious Lord

At Whit's End, Thomas Dorsey continues telling his life story to Whit and Trey Calhoun, picking up after he has decided to follow his daddy's advice to "go back to the beginnings" and devote his music to God. But when he takes his new gospel song around to churches, nobody wants it; the congregations like church music just the way it is. Discouraged, he wanders back to the club where he used to play as "Georgia Tom," and the owner offers to double his old pay. Thomas gives in. He admits that in those days he was hot one minute and cold the next, a tug of war in his soul between loving God and loving the world, and he tells himself he is only playing the clubs for a spell to pay the bills.

Then, as Thomas puts it, an angel comes into his life. In a crowded restaurant he asks to share a table with a young woman named Nettie Harper, who handles wardrobe at the club and, to his surprise, also attends his church. Nettie sees right through his fame; she tells him he looked happier playing at church than he ever does at the club, and that he needs more faith. Bold as ever, Thomas announces that he is going to marry her someday, and before long the pastor is telling him he may kiss the bride. Nettie, who is right there listening to Thomas tell the story, interrupts when he calls their marriage one big honeymoon. They never even took a honeymoon, she reminds him, because Thomas was always traveling, chasing money. She turns to Trey with advice worth remembering: don't confuse chasing money with a secure future; the brightest future comes from investing in people and storing up treasures in heaven.

Nettie's warnings to her husband go unheeded. Thomas pounds out blues tunes at three in the morning, insisting the songs pay for the house and everything in it, while giving God only his leftovers. Nettie warns him that Jonah ended up in the belly of a whale when the Lord wanted his attention. Soon afterward, on a huge night when President Calvin Coolidge himself is sitting in the front row, Thomas walks to the piano and freezes. His fingers will not move, and he cannot make sense of the keys. The strange condition lasts two years. Doctors and treatments do nothing, and Nettie takes in laundry to support them. When Thomas finally starts practicing scales in the middle of the night, saying he is going back to his beginnings, Nettie gently corrects him: his daddy meant going back to loving God and loving people. She knows just where he can learn how. At church, the preacher warns against living lukewarm, and Thomas walks to the altar with Nettie at his side to give God his everything.

From that day on, Thomas commits to gospel music full time. With his friend Theo Fry he carries his songs to churches, and even though one pastor turns him away, calling the music unsuitable for dignified worship, Thomas refuses to quit. He writes the song "If You See My Savior" in a single night, and it sells four thousand copies in one day. Even better news follows: Nettie is expecting their first child. Shortly before the baby is due, Thomas travels to St. Louis to sing at a revival, where the crowds embrace his songs. On the second night, just before he goes on stage, a boy hands him a telegram: "Thomas, hurry home. Nettie just died."

Thomas races home, certain there has been some mistake, but Theo meets him with the terrible truth. Nettie went into labor and her heart gave out, though she lived long enough to name their newborn son Thomas Jr., calling him a precious gift just like his father. Only twenty-four hours later, the baby dies too, with no explanation. Crushed, Thomas cries out to God, asking why, and tells Theo that his life has no music in it anymore. Theo reminds him that Nettie always said Thomas worked through his feelings best at the piano, and urges him to sing his heart, to sing a prayer. Sitting at the keys, Thomas feels a strange, sacred calm, and a melody he has never played before begins to flow. He starts to pray "Dear God," then stops; God's name is more precious than that. The words fall into place like drops of water from a rock, and Thomas sings the whole song through: "Take My Hand, Precious Lord."

Back at Whit's End, Whit explains that Thomas Dorsey went on to write hundreds of songs and became known as the father of gospel music, reshaping the music heard in churches today. Thomas calls them songs with a message: gospel means good news, and even when the news isn't easy or comfortable, it is good for you. He tells Trey that the future often looks bleak, but God is never surprised by what we go through, and "He can make beauty out of a terrible mess." Trey realizes that the future is really about faith in what God will do rather than in what other people may do, and the visit closes with the words of Thomas's great song, asking the precious Lord to take our hand and lead us home.