Rebel to Redeemed…Sharing HIS Kind of Love
Dr. Adam Geibel, a music publisher, asked pharmacists and composer, C. Austin Miles, to write a hymn that would bring hope. Miles retreated to ” a cold, dreary and leaky basement in New Jersey that didn’t even have a window in it let alone a view of a garden,” according to his great-granddaughter. Miles turned to his Bible and read […]
Read more
Today How Great Thou Art is a staple in the protestant church and often requested for funerals. The song did not gain popularity until after celebrating its fiftieth birthday. Cliff Barrows, the song leader for the Billy Graham crusades brought How Great Thou Art to international fame in the 1940s and 1950s during the London Crusades. The text was written […]
Read more
I Love to Tell the Story and Tell Me the Old, Old Story are sister songs. They were both written by Kate Hankey. Arabella Katherine Hankey was born in 1834. She lived in London with her family, but was influenced by John Wesley and his work. At the age of eighteen, she organized a Bible study for girls working in […]
Read more
One day in 1905, Mrs. Civilla Martin visited a friend that was bedridden. Concerned for her friend she asked her how she dealt with discouragement. The friend replied, “Mrs. Martin, how can I be discouraged when my Heavenly Father watches over each little sparrow and I know he loves and cares for me.” Hearing these words Mrs. Martin immediately put […]
Read more
Fanny Crosby went blind at the age of six weeks in 1820. Her blindness was not necessary but was due to an improper medical procedure. One day in 1873, Fanny was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp. Phoebe began to play a tune for Fanny, which she {Phoebe} had composed. She asked Fanny what the tune said to her. Fanny’s […]
Read more
Because He Lives, was written by Bill and Gloria Gaither. The couple are still a popular Southern Gospel performers and songwriters of our day. The couple met while they were both teachers and were married in 1962. By the end of the 1960s, the Gaither’s had two daughters and were expecting their third child. They were traveling and singing […]
Read more
In honor of Father’s Day, I wanted to do a special song for the father’s out there. My Father’s Eyes was released by a young Amy Grant on her 1979 album. This song gave Amy Grant her first Christian #1 hit. The song was written by Gary Chapman, who later became Amy Grant’s first husband. The two toured the song together […]
Read more
Just A Closer Walk with Thee was considered one of the favorite southern gospel hymns of the 20th Century. However, its origins remain a mystery. The hymn is considered to be one of the most requested songs at funerals. The song gained national popularity in the 1930s, when African American churches sung it at musical conventions. By the 1940s, the […]
Read more
Imagine all of your children were dead? Would you still be able to praise God? That is just the beginning of the story behind It Is Well with my Soul. This was not the first, nor the last, tragedy endured by the author, Horatio Gates Spafford. The beginning of their suffering began in 1871. In 1870, Horatio Spafford and his […]
Read more
In 1881, Charles Fry was inspired by the imagery in the Song of Solomon. “‘I am the rose of Sharon, the lily of the valleys.’ Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens. Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. In his shade I […]
Read more
Imagine your life held so much sadness and tragedy, that you willingly decided to take and live a vow of poverty. In our day and age, this seems extreme but it is the story of the author to the hymn, “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.” The lyrics were penned by Joseph M. Scriven in the mid-1800s. Mr. Scriven […]
Read more
Happy Mother’s Day to all of the mother’s. I wanted to do something special for you today. I was able to find little information on this song other than it was written by performer, Randy Travis. I hope you enjoy this mother’s day tribute, When Mama Prayed.
Read more
Baylus Benjamin McKinney was at the top of his career when he traveled to the Alabama Sunday School Convention in January 1936. The year before the Heflin, Louisiana native was named editor for the Baptist Sunday School Board of the Southern Baptist Convention. At the convention, the author of such hymns as “The Nail Scarred Hand”, “Speak to My Heart”, […]
Read more