Breathe on Me Breath Of God

Think back through difficult times in your life ...when hot tears filled your eyes. Maybe when your body was wracked with pain or your heart was broken. 

Did you feel like singing during those times?

And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, Acts 16:23-34

Since meeting my wife, Gracie, more than 34 years ago, I am constantly amazed that during the most brutal times of her life, even from a hospital bed following amputations, she sang. Although her voice barely whispered at times, there were other moments when it carried down the hall of countless hospital corridors through her 80+ surgeries. 

Each one of those times not only astonished and moved me, but nurses, doctors, techs, and visitors as well. It's not simply that she raised her voice in song, but Gracie's voice is a rich, passionate voice that has captured the heart of audiences since she first performed at age 3. 

One of those memorable times, however, came at the bedside of someone else. As my mother lay fighting for her life in hospital bed struggling to breathe with congestive heart failure, Gracie sang to her.

My mother asked for one of her favorite hymns:  "Breathe on Me Breath Of God." 

The picture with this podcast is of Gracie holding my mother's hand and singing this wonderful from the hymnal.  Gracie's rich voice echoed throughout intensive care ...and caused nurses to quietly stand by the room door and listen. 

I am grateful to report that my mother is doing well.  This hymn remains one of her favorites, and Gracie recorded this for her new CD ... a cappella. 

If you are struggling with heartache and/or physical issues today, please allow Gracie to sing to you as she did for my mother. 

1. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
   Fill me with life anew,
   That I may love what Thou dost love,
   And do what Thou wouldst do.
2. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
   Until my heart is pure,
   Until with Thee I will one will,
   To do and to endure.
3. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
   Till I am wholly Thine,
   Until this earthly part of me
   Glows with Thy fire divine.
4. Breathe on me, Breath of God,
   So shall I never die,
   But live with Thee the perfect life
   Of Thine eternity.

Gracie's new CD, Resilient is available today.  For more information visit: www.standingwithhope.com/resilient