Speaker: Hymn Story narrator (not Pastor Ryan Rench; narrator not named in the video)
Annie Sherwood Hawks, a gifted poet from New York, wrote over four hundred hymns, yet only one remains widely sung today: “I Need Thee Every Hour.” As a young wife and mother of three, Hawks lived a quiet life focused on being a stay-at-home mother. She was an active member of Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn, where her pastor, Dr. Robert Lowry, a prominent gospel songwriter, recognized her talent and encouraged her writing.
A June Morning in 1872
While tending to her daily household chores and lost in her own thoughts, Annie was suddenly overwhelmed by a profound awareness of God’s presence. She said, “One day as a young wife and mother of thirty-seven years of age, I was busy with my regular household tasks during a bright June morning in 1872. Suddenly I became so filled with the sense of nearness to the Master that, wondering how one could live without Him, either in joy or pain, these words were ushered into my mind, the thought at once taking full possession of me: ‘I need Thee every hour.'” Inspired by these words, she sat by an open window, took up a pencil, and quickly penned the entire hymn. She later shared her lyrics with Pastor Lowry, who composed the melody and added the refrain. The hymn soon gained widespread popularity after evangelist D. L. Moody began using it in his revival meetings.
The Comfort of Her Own Words
Annie Hawks, a humble homemaker, was astonished by the impact of her simple words. Years later, after losing her husband, she came to understand her hymn’s deep resonance. She wrote, “I did not understand at first why this hymn had touched the great throbbing heart of humanity. It was not until long after, when the shadow fell over my way, the shadow of a great loss, that I understood something of the comforting power in the words which I had been permitted to give out to others in my hour of sweet serenity and peace.” It is truly amazing how one of the greatest hymns ever written is now sung in churches around the world more than 150 years later, all because a mother from Brooklyn took the time to write down her thoughts about God.
