This is a new, new song.  In an attempt to highlight some of those beautiful new hymns that are coming out, I tell the story of one woman's struggle to have and maintain her marriage, and the dark moments it brought her to.  But in the end, she wrote dozens of songs to help others in their trying moments and to, more importantly, glorify God.

Mary Baker, survivor of a dying family.  After witness the death of many close relatives, living through near financial ruin onset by natural disasters, and her doubts of God's grace, she is given a life changing opportunity that she took advantage of to see revival and glorify God.  And she gave us a beautiful hymn.  Listen to this episode to find out more.

You can find the main source for this episode at https://ldshymnology.wordpress.com/2020/11/09/mary-baker-1832-1925/

You can go to www.visitgcbc.com to provide your support to Missionary Nate Shaver and family.

This is a special episode.  I have a wonderful conversation with Randy Petersen, author of Be Still My Soul, one of the first books I started reading about hymn histories.  He was the first one who made these stories "real" for me, so it was a privilege to speak with the author for so long.  I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!.

This is our first, of hopefully many, modern songs.  This one comes straight from the Hamilton Family.  In this episode, you'll learn how tragic events led to one of the most sung Hamilton songs, and how we are reminded that God is always good.

It is time for an origin story, that is, MY origin story.  In this episode, you'll learn how a Christmas hymn from France, which has its own story, helped create the Stories about Hymn podcast.

Here is the link to the video of Joan Baez singing this hymn in its original language: https://youtu.be/Mxfmnk7l_pI

This is another wonderful history that does not have a sad story behind it.  It is simply about a man who was lost, got saved, and was so sure and thankful for his salvation that he made a song about it.  It cannot get much better than that.

A few admin notes:  The sound quality of the last episode, this one, and the next few are sub-par.  I did not have access to my regular equipment; please bare with me.  Also, this is a missionary awareness episode.  To provide some more context, the missionary that will be discussed is Michael Shaver, who lost his wife to cancer late last year and to whom Episodes 6 and 7 were dedicated.  This is the primary reason for his break from deputation.

Michael's missionary website is https://icelandicmissions.com/michaelshaver.html

With that, please enjoy this episode with all of your heart!

Many of our song's stories are epic by nature.  Some of them are even too good to be believable.  Often, this is the case.  However, that does not mean there isn't some truth worth retelling!  Listen how one hymn took nearly one thousand years to be completed, from pen to music sheet.  While this story may not be as good as well all would like it to be, we can still give God the glory!

Sometimes, life is short.  But that does not mean God should not get the glory.  In this episode, we learn how a crippled young woman who died at an early age glorified God through her hymns.  And it wasn't just her life that led to the creation of this hymn, but it was also the death of another.  Further, we learn how this song was used in one of the greatest missionary stories ever recorded, and how one of those missionaries died at nearly the same age of the song's author.

This song is performed by Grace Community Church of San Antonio, Texas.  You can listen to more of their music here: https://gccsatx.com/hymns/

Here is the link to my new blog site:  https://storiesabouthymn.wordpress.com