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I Know that My Redeemer Lives - How it came about
August 1997, I was working with the Especially for Youth program as a building counselor at the Cedar City, Utah session. The session director was a well-beloved youth speaker, Scott Simmons. His "sub theme" for the week was "I Know that My Redeemer Lives" and he wanted a special arrangement of the hymn for the week's special fireside. This hymn is four versus long, so I asked him if there were any of the versus he wouldn't mind leaving out. He replied, "We need all four. All four." This is the arrangement that came as a result of Scott's request. It has since been performed at most EFY sessions I have worked at during the 1998 and 1999 summers and is included on the 2000 EFY album, Forward With Faith.
"I Know That My Redeemer Lives" is my all-time favorite hymn, and this is why. Every line teaches of another reason to have faith and hope in Jesus Christ. If I can get on my soapbox for a minute, I believe we can have much more faith in Christ than we currently have. We can have hope in a Savior who not only died for our sins, but for our sorrows and sicknesses. But He didn't give His life to just help us when we're "down," but when we are "up," too. Through His power, we can become the people we were meant to become - the kind of people we really want to be, deep down, spiritually. If I could recommend just one thing, it would be to take some time where you could be by yourself with your scriptures, your journal, your pondering cap, and your praying knees. Take this time to gain a vision of the kind of person you want to become spiritually. You can have some pretty sacred experiences in these settings. Then walk away from your "alone place" with determination to become the kind of person you've been shown.
Becky from Washington Danielle from Michigan Brooke Stone
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