๐๐ข๐บ ๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง โ๐๐บ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ด๐จ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จโ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด.๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ . . . โฃ
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๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Todayโs hymn, much like this treasured autumn season, holds a special place in my heart. Those who gathered to help us celebrate our wedding day twenty-five years ago sang these words as our ceremony recessional. The hymn writer seemed to capture so many thoughts and emotions for us as we gave thanks for the LORDโs gracious hand in orchestrating our paths to join as one.
It was a crisp fall day, with a deep blue sky. In the quiet of the morning, we visited a local arboretum to take a few pictures of our families and wedding party. The photographer carefully placed us in a shady spot along a picturesque stone wall, under the huge canopy of a maple tree whose leaves had turned a bright golden yellow.
As he adjusted his lenses and checked the lighting, my soon-to-be-husband and I became lost in our own little bubble of pure joy. I never remember feeling more deeply at peace or more incredibly grateful.
Sovereign GOD had touched and molded each of our hearts to position us for the covenant promises we would make that day. It was staggering to imagine the power and tenderness He had displayed, drawing each of us to Himself first, and then to each other.
Decades later, as weโve seen the LORD continue to weave the story of our life through joys and sorrows, comforts and challenges, the words of this hymn ring truer than ever, calling even deeper expressions of true THANKFULNESS from our hearts!
๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ โฃ
by: Joachim Neander (1650-1680)โฃ
translated by: Catherine Winkworth (1829-1878)โฃ
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๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ, โฃ
๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ!โฃ
๐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ, ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฎ, โฃ
๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐๐ฆ ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ญ๐ท๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ!โฃ
๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ, โฃ
๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ;โฃ
๐๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ!โฃ
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๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐, โฃ
๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฐโ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด๐ญ๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ!โฃ
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด, โฃ
๐บ๐ฆ๐ข, ๐ด๐ฐ ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ญ๐บ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ!โฃ
๐๐ข๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ โฃ
๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏโฃ
๐๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ?โฃ
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๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐, โฃ
๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ต๐ฉ๐บ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ;โฃ
๐๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ๐บ ๐๐ช๐ด ๐จ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ค๐บ โฃ
๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ.โฃ
๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐บ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ,โฃ
๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ.โฃ
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๐๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐๐๐, โฃ
๐ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ต ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฎ!โฃ
๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ญ๐ช๐ง๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ, โฃ
๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ข๐ช๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฎ.โฃ
๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐ด ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ,โฃ
๐๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ญ๐บ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ข๐บ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฎ.โฃ
the cover of His Presence 