There Shall Be Showers of Blessings was written by Major Daniel Webster Whittle. He was born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts on November 22, 1840. After moving to Chicago in 1857, he began to attend a…
Johnson Oatman, Jr. was an lifelong insurance agent, while also serving as an ordained Methodist minister. No, Not One is a repetitive phrase used throughout the song to remind us that Jesus came to be…
In one of his sermons, Dwight L. Moody, the famed 19th Century evangelist, provided an anecdote of a pilot during the storm. He spoke of how not even a star was visible on this night,…
Horatio R. Palmer, was an American musician, who was struck with the idea for this hymn in a most unexpected way. One day while working on a music theory exercise, the idea for this hymn…
Robert Raikes is known as the “founder of the modern Sunday School”. He had a driving desire for the spiritual and social conditions of the poor illiterate children in 18th Century England. This was a…
Growing up Daddy and I often performed the song Statue of Liberty for patriotic services. Recently I sung this song again and wondered about the origin of this beautiful song which combines both our patriotic…
Hail, Columbia was composed by Philip Phile in 1789. He composed the song for the first inauguration of George Washington and titled the song “The President’s March”. In 1798, Joseph Hopkinson added lyrics and the…
Fanny Crosby, was a famed hymn composer in the 19th Century. She wrote over 5,500 hymns in her almost 95 years on earth. However, she spent the majority of her life blind. She became blind…
In celebration of Father’s Day, I wanted to take a look at this beautiful song. Holly Dunn wrote the song in honor of her father. She stated in writing the song as a gift…
Margaret Clarkson traveled to northern Ontario, Canada as a young twenty-three-year-old woman to work as a school teacher in a gold-mining camp town. With her family and friend’s miles away, one can imagine the loneliness…
Recently, I was discussing the hymn I’m Just a Wayfaring Stranger with my grandmother, who remembered singing the song when she was a youngster. The song is a folk song which is believed…
God Moves in a Mysterious Way was written by William Cowper. Cowper wrote a poem titled “Light Shining Out of Darkness” in 1773. he poem consist of six verses. This poem is believed to be…
Isaac Watts wrote I Sing the Mighty Power of God as a song for children. He originally titled the song “Praise for Creation and Providence”. As a teenager, Watts complained to his father about how…
I am so thankful to have a mother who loves Jesus and taught me about him from a young age. Faith of our Mother’s was written for Mother’s Day around 1920. The hymn was written…
Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah was written by William Williams Pantycelyn. Williams was born in Carmarthenshire, Wales in 1717. He was the son of John and Dorothy Williams. His father was a prosperous farmer.…
Harry Dixon Loes, was a popular music teacher at the Moody Bible Institute for almost three decades in the early 20th Century. Harry Loes was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan on October 20, 1892. He served…
Pastor Louis Giglio and singer Chris Tomlin discussed writing a song which would help people who were walking through the valley of grief and loss. In a 2011 interview Chris Tomlin shared, “”We were sitting…
An art museum in Dusseldorf, Germany has a vivid painting on display of Christ, “wearing His crown of thorns as He stands before Pilate and the mob”. Underneath the painting, by Sternberg, are the word…
Priscilla J. Owens was a Baltimore public school teacher for forty-nine years and often wrote hymns for children’s services. She was very involved in the Sunday School at her church. She wrote the words to…
Jesus told the parable of the shepherd who left his ninety-nine sheep to go after the one lost sheep. {Luke 15:3-7} Elizabeth Clephane lived in Melrose, Scotland during the 19th Century. She was an invalid…