Hymns From HOme: Blessed assurance

 PRAY
God, thank you that my story is one of grace and redemption through Your Son, Jesus Christ.  No matter how unstable our circumstances on this earth, we thank you for this truly blessed assurance. Amen.

LYRIC

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior, all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Savior all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending, bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. 


Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with his goodness, lost in his love.


SCRIPTURE
1 Peter 1:8 & 1 John 3:1-3  
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BACKGROUND

Blessed Assurance is another tune by the great hymn-writer Fanny Crosby.  In her memoirs she noted:

"Sometimes a tune is furnished me for which to write the words. The hymn titled "Blessed Assurance" was made in this manner. My dear friend Phoebe Palmer Knapp (Mrs. Joseph), so well-known as a writer and singer of most excellent music and as an aid and inspiration to all who knew her, had composed the tune; and it seemed to me one of the sweetest I had heard for a long time. She asked me what it said. I replied, "Blessed assurance." I felt while bringing the words and tones together that the air and the hymn were intended for each other."
-from Fanny Crosby's Memories
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Knapp, who wrote the tune ASSURANCE, was an American musician and philanthropist who wrote over 500 gospel tunes of which this collaboration with Fanny Crosby is the best known.
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PERSONAL

This week's episode is obviously drastically different than any of the other ones I've done thus far for a couple of reasons.  First, it's the first video to feature me + a friend in the same shot!  It's been a blessing as things begin to slowly open up a bit to get to actually make music TOGETHER in the same room with a friend.  This has happened a couple times in the past few weeks and it's like a much-needed drink of water.  I'm hopeful it might become a thing that happens more.
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Also, this was by FAR the most thrown-together of any episode.  I actually had a different one planned for this past Monday night but schedules and internet download speeds in the end did not afford us the luxury of finishing the project.  So instead, Michelle Margiotta & I hit "pause" on a recording session for the new CD, literally picked the first hymn we could think of, and opened up 2 iPhones and a laptop and went live on Instagram & Facebook...also something I've wanted to try but haven't had the opportunity to do yet.  I've heard from a few of you that Facebook LIVE feed wasn't so great and we weren't looking the right direction on the Instagram Video, so I decided to re-share a better version of this video so you can have a viewing experience that is less glitchy than it was live. I hope you enjoy this song a second time around!