Silas and Nathan's songs

I have struggled for awhile about having a life verse for my children. There are so many verses I like and would love for my children to live by that to choose one would be very difficult. Then, if I choose one and later on, that doesn't fit them at all, they end up with multiple verses, which is perfectly fine, I know, but then I'm back to still trying to choose one right now. So, I had heard about a Christian family that instead of life verses does life songs. Ahhh, now that hit me. There is constantly music in our house, whether it be Kurt playing piano, us singing, cd's, radio, etc. I absolutely love hymns (and I think Kurt is starting to!). They are so rich in content and easy to remember since they are with music, that it was so much easier for me to pick a life hymn for my children. So, I'd like to share them.

For Silas, I think Kurt basically picked this one and it has stuck. Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing. I remember him singing this song to Silas as he put him to bed right from the very beginning. I still enjoy hearing Kurt through the baby monitor singing Silas to sleep with this song every night. Any given day when Kurt sits down at the piano, this song will be played. Silas knows it is his song and gets a grin on his face when it is played. Although he doesn't know the words and doesn't understand them yet, I think he will cherish it in the future.

Here are the words if you haven't heard the song.

Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace,
Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it, Mount of God's unchanging love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer, hither by they help I come.
And I hope by they good pleasure safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger wandering from the fold of God (how true that is!)
He to rescue me from danger interposed his precious blood.

Oh to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be! (that's us!)
Let thy grace Lord like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. (I can relate!)
Here's my heart, Lord take and seal it, seal it for they courts above (that is our prayer for Silas!)

Now Nathan's song, I think I basically picked it out. I remember singing this song as a child but I hadn't heard it in such a long time. Then, I heard it on the radio while I was pregnant with Nathan, because Bart Millard came out with a cd (Hymned Again, highly recommend it if you like hymns redone) and it was on there. The song is just so simple, yet so deep that the truth of the gospel is so clear in it. It truly really speaks to me and I'm hoping that Nathan will grasp the understanding of it and hold it close to his heart. Kurt also enjoys playing this on the piano and I can't wait for the day that we can sing it as a family in one voice.

Here are the words.

Vs. 1
I stand amazed in the presence of Jesus the Nazarene.
And wonder how He could love me, A sinner, condemned, unclean.

Chorus

How marvelous,
How wonderful.
And my song shall ever be,
How marvelous,
How wonderful
Is my Savior's love for me.

Vs. 2
He took my sins and my sorrows and made them His very own.
He bore the burden to Calvary, and suffered and died alone.

chorus

Vs. 3
When with the ransomed in glory, His face I at last shall see.
It will be my joy through the ages, to sing of His love for me

Chorus

So this is what we've done as a family and I think it fits us really good since we are really into music here. Hymns just amaze me, because they span many centuries and so many people know them. How many songs can you think of outside of the church that so many people know? So, our prayer for our children is that they will come to know the Lord at an early age and we can rejoice over them by singing with these life songs.