In June of last year, the Church announced plans for both a new hymnbook and a new children's songbook.  Church members throughout the world were invited to submit original compositions to be considered for inclusion in the two new collections.

About ten years ago I wrote a short hymn as the musical setting for a meaningful poem Dallas found online about men and women working together to accomplish God's work.  But without that author's permission, I couldn't submit my hymn for consideration.  

The idea that I should submit a hymn continued to rise to the surface of my consciousness every month or two.  But I still had several months before the July 1, 2019 hymn submission deadline, and repeatedly allowed the idea to re-submerge.

“Music has power to provide spiritual nourishment,” President Russell M. Nelson has said. “It has healing power. It has the power to facilitate worship, allowing us to contemplate the Atonement and the Restoration of the gospel, with its saving principles and exalting ordinances. It provides power for us to express prayerful thoughts and bear testimony of sacred truths” (“The Power and Protection of Worthy Music,” Ensign, Dec. 2009, 16).  I have felt this power time and time again. 

"Triller" by GyrosOfWar is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 

 

I have served at various times--and over periods of several years--as our ward (church congregation) music chairperson, and one of the responsibilities in this assignment is to select music for Sunday worship services.  But sometimes as I searched for a hymn to address a particular topic or challenge, I found "doctrinal gaps;" topics for which hymns were either few and far between or nonexistent.

In June of this year as the submission deadline approached, the impression to submit a hymn became more persistent, more urgent.  And when I learned I could not submit a hymn without text, I felt drawn to composing text which would speak to those suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts.  This, I felt, was an area where a hymn of hope was sorely needed.  

The result is the hymn text printed below, which I drafted over a period of about two hours one afternoon.The first two lines actually came to me while I was on the chiropractor's roller table!  I did submit my hymn for consideration, but regardless of whether or not my hymn is selected for the new hymnbook, receiving the inspiration for the hymn text has been a humbling and spiritual experience for me.

It is my prayer that these words--given to me, I believe, through the inspiration of Heaven--will offer healing and hope to others.

Turn to Him

When you doubt your worth before Him,

Struggling for the will to stay;

When the path seems twisting, hidden--

Turn to Him to find the Way.

Worldly voices lie, distract you.

They proclaim: “You have no worth.”

Roared or whispered, do not heed them!

Turn to Him to know the Truth.

When the pain endures and deepens,

Piercing, wounding as a knife;

When the darkness presses on you,

Turn to Him to find the Life.

When the unrelenting shadows

Beckon you to yield the fight;

When the clouds eclipse the sunshine,

Turn to Him to see the Light.

Oh, remember this: He loves you!

And to Him your name is known!

Listen to Him; trust Him, heed Him.

He will bring you safely Home.

© 2019 Lisa Lauchner