I Need Thee Every Hour || The Story Behind the Song

Annie Hawks

     Annie Sherwood Hawks, the poet and hymnist who wrote "I Need Thee Every Hour", was born on May 28, 1836, in Hoosick, New York. A poet since her youth, Annie's first verse was published by fourteen years of age.
     In 1857, Annie Sherwood became Annie Hawks when she married Charles H. Hawks. They lived in Brooklyn, and attended the Hanson Place Baptist Church, where Dr. Robert Lowry was pastor. With her pastor's encouragement, Annie began writing Sunday school songs for children, and Lowry put many of them to music.

Dr Robert Lowry

     Annie recalls her writing of "I Need Thee Every Hour" as a young wife and mother of three: "I remember well the circumstances under which I wrote the hymn. It was a bright June day (1872), and I became so filled with the sense of the nearness of my Master that I began to wonder how anyone could live without Him, in either joy or pain. Suddenly, the words 'I need Thee every hour' flashed into my mind, and very quickly the thought had full possession of me. Seating myself by the open windows, I caught up my pencil and committed the words to paper-almost as they are today."
     Hawks then handed her hymn to Lowry the next Sunday. He composed the tune for it, and also added a refrain.
     In 1888, Annie's husband died, at which point she moved to Bennington, Vermont, to live with her daughter and son-in-law. After her husband's death, Annie said of her hymn, "For myself, the hymn, at its writing, was prophetic rather than expressive of my own experiences, for it was wafted out to the world on the wings of love and joy, instead of under the stress of great personal sorrow, with which it has often been associated. At first I did not understand why the hymn so greatly touched the throbbing heart of humanity. Years later, however, under the shadow of a great loss, I came to understand something of the comforting power of the words I had been permitted to give out to others in my hours of sweet serenity and peace."
     Annie Sherwood Hawks died in Bennington on January 3, 1918. She is buried at the Hoosick Rural Cemetery.

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I Need Thee Every Hour

I need Thee every hour,

Most gracious Lord;

No tender voice like Thine

Can peace afford.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;

Every hour I need Thee,

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee!

I need Thee every hour,

Stay Thou near by;

Temptations lose their power

When Thou art nigh.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;

Every hour I need Thee,

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee!

I need Thee every hour

In joy or pain;

Come quickly and abide

Or life is vain.

I need Thee, O I need Thee;

Every hour I need Thee,

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee!

I need Thee every hour,

Most Holy One.

Oh, make me Thine indeed,

Thou blessed Son!

I need Thee, O I need Thee;

Every hour I need Thee,

O bless me now, my Savior,

I come to Thee!

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And there's another Story Behind the Song!
Blessings & Love,
Georgie Grace

Sources:

http://hishymnhistory.blogspot.com/2012/11/i-need-thee-every-hour.html

http://hymnswelove.blogspot.com/2012/05/story-behind-i-need-thee-every-hour.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annie_Hawks

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Lowry_(hymn_writer)

Photo Credit to Google