Day by day, and with each passing moment

1
Day by day, and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father’s wise bestowment,
I’ve no cause for worry or for fear.
He, whose heart is kind beyond all measure,
Gives unto each day what He deems best,
Lovingly its part of pain and pleasure,
Mingling toil with peace and rest.
2
Every day the Lord Himself is near me,
With a special mercy for each hour;
All my cares He fain would bear and cheer me,
He whose name is Counsellor and Pow’r.
The protection of His child and treasure
Is a charge that on Himself He laid;
“As thy days, thy strength shall be in measure,”
This the pledge to me He made.
3
Help me then, in every tribulation,
So to trust Thy promises, O Lord,
That I lose not faith’s sweet consolation,
Offered me within Thy holy Word.
Help me, Lord, when toil and trouble meeting,
E’er to take, as from a father’s hand,
One by one, the days, the moments fleeting,
Till with Christ the Lord I stand.
200
David Guldseth

San Diego, CA, United States

This has been sung in many of our family devotionals. This was sung at a family member Della Evenson Hummel’s funeral as well The John Guldseth family. It is encouraging to think of God as a Father who cares and gives strength and hope each day.


Ellen Doty

Prineville, Oregon, United States

This song helped me cope as I struggled to face each new challenge of caring for my husband before he died of cancer. I first fell in love with this song as a young adult never realizing how precious it would be to me later in life. When I was helping care for my elderly mother I first chose this song to help me endure the heartbreak. But it meant so much more when my husband was so ill and I had no control of what was happening around us. Just knowing that God was there for us to see us through the daily heartbreak helped me.


Marjorie

Jamaica

The words of this song to such beautiful calming melody have reassured me that God is a loving and doting Father who provides for me, watches over me and gives me comfort. Such perfect love.


Achile Ebikwo

Minna, Niger, Nigeria

A cleric sent me a recorded audio of the first verse and I've since been hooked. The lyrics are so rich and deeply rooted in the omnipotence of God.


Clifford

Kingston, Jamaica

Thank You Lord for the reminder that You will take care of me and I have no need to fear. Please help me Lord to have the faith and believe. I love You Lord.


Crystal Whitham

Salem, OH, United States

I couldn't count the number of times I have turned to this hymn throughout the past 30 years of my life! It has spoken to me over and over again!


Leigh Powell

United Kingdom

This is a comforting hymn, but let us recall that the God of all comforts (2 Corinthians chapter 1) has provided us another comforter, even the Holy Spirit (John 16). And if the Holy Spirit is another comforter, that means that the person who spoke thus of the Holy Spirit is ALSO a comforter, even the Lord Jesus Christ.


Kathleen Harris

Winnipeg, MB, Canada

This song has been a comfort & strength to me MANY times in my Christian walk!


Steven Miller

Detroit, Michigan, United States

Lina Sandell was called the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden". From her pen flowed a great number of hymns which contributed much to the waves of revival that were sweeping the Scandinavian countries during the latter half of the 19th century.

Lina was born in 1832 in a small community in northern Sweden where her father, Jonas Sandell, was the Lutheran parish pastor. Though serving a state church, Pastor Sandell was sympathetic and strongly supportive of the revival movement. He became an early leader in this spiritual renewal with its emphasis on a personal salvation experience as opposed to reliance upon the sacraments and rituals of the church.

Lina greatly loved and admired her father. Since she was a frail youngster, she generally preferred to be with him in his study rather than with comrades outdoors.

When Lina was just 12 years of age, she had an experience that greatly shaped her entire life. At an early age she had been stricken with a partial paralysis that confined her to bed much of the time. Though the physicians considered her chance for a complete recovery hopeless, her parents always believed that God would in time make her well again.

One Sunday morning while her parents were in church, Lina began reading the Bible and praying earnestly. When her parents returned, they were amazed to find her dressed and walking freely. After this experience of physical healing, Lina began to write verses expressing her gratitude and love for God and published her first book of spiritual poetry when she was 16.

When Lina was 26 years old she was accompanying her father aboard ship across Lake Vattern. As they stood on deck watching the rolling waves, the vessel suddenly lurched. Lina's father fell overboard and drowned before the eyes of his devoted daughter.

Although Lina had written many hymn texts prior to this tragic experience, now more than ever poetic thoughts began to flow from her broken heart. All of her hymns reflect a tender, childlike trust in her Savior and a deep sense of His abiding presence in her life.

Lina wrote approximately 650 hymns before her death in 1903 at the age of 71. 50 years after her death, 10,000 people gathered in the yard of her childhood home to dedicate a bronze statue in her memory. The little family cottage is now a public museum in Sweden.

The remarkable popularity attained by Lina Sandell's hymns has been due partially to the simple but melodius music written for them by Sandinavian musicians such as Oscar Ahnfelt, the composer of this tune. Ahnfelt was known as "the spiritual troubadour of Scandinavia" in his day. Not only did he possess the gift of composing pleasing melodies that caught the fancy of the Swedish people, but he traveled from village to village throughout the Scandinavian countries preaching and singing these folklike hymns to the accompaniment of his home-made 10 string guitar. Lina Sandell once said of him, "Ahnfelt has sung my songs into the hearts of the people."

As is often true whenever revival fires begin to glow, Oscar Ahnfelt experienced much opposition. One time King Karl XV. ruler of the united kingdoms of Sweden and Norway was petitoined to forbid Ahnfelt's ministry throughout the Scandinavian countries. The monarch refused until he had had an opportunity to hear the “spiritual troubadour.” When the monarch called for him to appear at the court, Ahnfelt could not decide what he should sing for his king, so he requested Lina Sandell to write a special poem for the occasion. Within a few days she had the new text ready. With his guitar under his arm and the new hymn in his pocket, Ahnfelt appeared at the royal palace and sang these tender words:

---

Who is it that knocketh upon your heart's door

in peaceful eve?

Who is it that brings to the wounded and sore

the balm that can heal and relieve?

Your heart is still restless; it findeth no peace

in earth's pleasures;

Your heart is still yearning; it seeketh release

to rise to the heavenly treasures

--

King Karl listened with moist eyes. When Ahnfelt had finished, the monarch gripped him by the hand and exclaimed, "You may sing and preach as much as you desire throughout both of my kingdoms."

-'52 Hymn Stories Dramatized' by Kenneth W. Osbeck & Wikipedia

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Another beloved hymn by Lina Sandell is 'Children of the Heavenly Father'

Here are the last 2 stanzas, which bear a similar sentiment to 'Day by Day':

3 Neither life nor death shall ever

from the Lord His children sever;

unto them His grace He showeth,

and their sorrows all He knoweth.

4 Though He giveth or He taketh,

God His children ne’er forsaketh;

His the loving purpose solely

to preserve them pure and holy.


Carole Vickers

Casselberry, Florida, United States

This was our church youth group's unofficial theme song. At least we couldn't end a meeting without dining it. As it turned out there were some very difficult days ahead as we became adults. The message of these words always rings true. We sang the last line as, "'Til I reach the promised land." and some of our group have reached the promised land.