We sang ‘Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing’ at Hans’s memorial service. Surprisingly, I was able to sing, too, though my heart was splintering into little pieces. It was important to me that I sing that day. I wanted to do it for the Lord. I wanted to do it for Hans.

The title of my book Never Ceasing: God’s Faithfulness in Grief comes from this hymn.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing
Robert Robinson (1758)

Come, Thou Fount of ev’ry 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 Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
hither by Thy help I’ve come;
and I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wand’ring from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
bind my wand’ring heart to Thee:
prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart, O take and seal it;
seal it for Thy courts above.