Father, long before creation

Thank you for your choice Father!
God’s compassion is our story,
Mercy free and never failing,
Hallelujah!

Maybe you can pass this to Ana Lara. I know you vet these. Maybe she can change her comment. I believe John Hughs wrote the music. This is from Hymnary. org -

This anonymous Chinese text was initially used as a theme song by Chinese Christians who kept the faith while the Cultural Revolution was in full swing. The hymn was sung in a Bible-study center in Peking during the winter of 1952-53. In 1953, Bliss Wyant, scholar of Chinese music and culture, gave the text to Francis P. Jones (b. Wisconsin [? ] 1890; d. Claremont, CA, 1965 [? ]), a missionary to China from 1915 to 1 1950. Jones translated the text into English and published it in the China Bulletin of the National Council of Churches (1953). After it appeared in The Hymnbook in 1955, the text was published in a number of other hymnals.

With various references to Ephesians 1:3-14, the text confesses the Christian faith. That confession is all the more bold when it is seen against the background of the Chinese Cultural Revolution. Stanza 2 states that “Though the world may change its fashion, you will still remain the same. ” Stanza 3 concludes with a line from John 3: 16, "God so loved us that he gave his only Son." The entire text affirms God's electing love and redemptive grace and leads to a final stanza in which we sing "glory to the Lamb upon the throne."

Francis P. Jones studied at Wisconsin State College, Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, Garrett Bible Institute, and Union Theological Seminary. After returning from China, he lectured at Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, edited the China Bulletin, translated Christian classics into Chinese, and made lecture tours to Taiwan and Hong Kong, retiring in 1965. His publications include some twenty-six volumes in addition to articles for periodicals and some hymn translations.

The music to this beautiful hymn to the Father was written by John Hughes. He was born November 22, 1873, Dowlais, Wales and was a Welsh composer of hymn-tunes. He is most widely known for the tune “Cwm Rhondda. ”

By age 12, Hughes was working as a “door boy” in the coal mine at Llantwit Fardre, Glassmorganshire. He eventually worked his way up to the position of clerk at the Great Western Colliery in Pontypridd, in Rhondda Valley. He belonged to the Salem Baptist Chapel where he was a deacon and a precentor (director of a choir or congregational singing).

He died on May 14, 1932, Llantwit Fardre at the age of 58 and was buried in Salem Baptist Chapel in Pontypridd, Wales.

We’ll ever praise Your Name!

Giving glory, giving glory

To our God and to the Lamb.

God’s own children, God’s own children,
Must forever praise His name,
Must forever praise His name.

God's own children must forever praise His name. This song reminds me to praise the Lord. The Lord has won the victory. We just need to praise Him. By praising Him we uplift our eyes on Him from ourselves and our situations.

God so loved us, God so loved US,
That His only Son He gave!
Hallelujah!

Thank you Father for your choosing us in Christ long before creation to be holy and without blemish before Him in love! Thank you loving Father that your selection was carried out in Christ in love! Glory be to God and to the Lamb!

Ephesians 1:4 Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love,

Praise the Father God for His Love!