Beautiful words, and a beautiful story behind them. George Matheson, a Scottish Presbyterian minister, found himself at age 20 alone when he went blind and his fiancé decided to break off the marriage. She left him. He turned to the Lord. In the darkness of the moment, he wrote this hymn in five minutes. It never needed any editing.

My choir is singing this right now. Sometimes I think that life isn’t worth living, and then I hear songs like these and I listen to the rest of the choir all in perfect tune, and I realize that it’s going to be ok.

I get so choked up trying to sing this that I can barely get through it. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Heard this at my husband’s funeral today. What balm for my aching soul.

just started singing this in our choir and i’ve already cried on the first listen

I lost my youngest child 8 weeks ago. Barely 23. I long to be with him. But I know my time is still here with his siblings until God calls me home. This is a long & weary road.

Last night I heard 120 high schoolers sing this with joy in their hearts. It left me in tears. This gives me such hope for our youth. I played it for my wife today and she was weeping. What a beautiful song. What an incredible God!

as i arrived home today, my mother was in a rush to leave the house. she told me my grandmother, who is battling als, is having difficulty breathing, and left me alone with that much. a week ago, i watched a choir perform this, and all i could think of is my grandma. this woman is the most hopeful and loving lady i have ever been graced to meet. if she doesn’t make it through tonight, this song will always give me a part of her. a part of her endless love.

I keep coming back to this... it has to be one of the absolutely most glorious sacred music pieces that is in existence! Thank you for writing this glorious piece!!

Singing this for a friend's memorial service. It's one thing to hear this beautiful music... It's quite another to sing it. Just practicing it can be emotionally overwhelming. This is a wonderful piece.

I could listen over and over and the tears never stop. My mother is dying as I lay next to her. This will be a tribute and the hymn at her funeral.

I adore this song. Thank you. I play it every once in a while and let it wash over me.

I just played this on cello with a local church choir today. I had to hold my tears until later, but what a joy to look up and see many in the congregation in tears! 🙏 This is a gorgeous composition and recording, Elaine. Thank you.

Beautiful song, beautiful words, and most beautiful of all - the Love that never leaves us, never fails us. The Love that shines in the deepest darkness...

I could barely speak the words when I was led to it by the Holy Spirit. I was grieving so bad from death and divorce it was a great many months before I could even say the words. O Love, every time is O God every single time in my heart❤❤❤

We will be performing this stunningly beautiful piece next month for our church choir director who is battling a serious illness. There will not be a dry eye in the room. God truly inspired this hymn.

For a young lady, her music displays such passion and the kind of maturity that is found in the works of someone older and more experienced. I can only imagine what gems she will grace us with in the future.

This is a masterpiece of choral music by Elaine Hagenburg that pierces the soul. It is a nice way to start a calm morning in peace. The work starts simply in a gentle, undulating theme of "O Love", which grows and repeats in a harmonic mix of SATB that feels like a burst of light. If your soul is not touched by the end of this piece, I don't know what will. 😍

My choir sang this song as the senior song we had last year and all the seniors got solo parts for the beginning and a few of them kept getting choked up because they had been with the choir all 4 years of their high school life and it was beautiful.

The first time I heard this song, I got goosebumps, it really resonated with me. Such a beautiful composition, a masterpiece that will withstand time. I can see future generations performing this even after a thousand years.

I come back to this recording all the time. It’s gotten me through a lot. Thank you for your beautiful work on this arrangement. ❤️

We just sang this song for Region 3 Choir. As many know being in a MEA festival for your state is a tiring experience. You sing for 2 days straight and then perform a concert. You can get tired of singing and may want to go home and that happened to me but this song just made all of those negative thoughts go away. To show the amount of emotion we needed I put myself in this song. For me I think about singing when I hear this song. Singing is something that no matter how I am feeling, it can always bring me joy. This song reminds me of how breathtaking music is when I am at my lowest. Thank you, Elaine Hagenberg, for creating songs that can bring everyone to tears. You have always been my favorite composer in the entire world❤️

I cry tears of joy everytime I listen to this piece

I fell in love with this hymn text 22 years ago and have been waiting for someone to set it to a lovely tune. This is perfect!

is it me or does Elaine arrange music in a totally heavenly way...?!

Your setting of this classic verse is stunning. I didn't think a new tune would give it fresh meaning, but yours is transcendent. Thank you.

My choir started to learn this. When we listened to it the first time, I almost got choked up. So powerful. Aria, rip.

Beautiful! ... O love of God that would not let me go, but that with His mercy all He lead me to His Beloved Son Jesus Christ! I now do, O Lord, rest my weary soul in Your hands of eternal love. O love O love O love, that will not let me go. I love You O my God! Thank You Lord Jesus! ... I had to listen to this song over and over again, for the joy it bring me this day! ... I look forward to starting my morning devotions with such singing. Blessing!

My choir was going to sing this before the quarantine happened. We will never get to. I'm not doing choir next year. So, I'll just cherish this song through here. I will sing it to my children one day. I swear it.

Moving yet very emotive. Thanks Elaine for the gift of music that is so tranquil and immaculate.

I love this song and its message...

Our church choir sang this at our wedding. When my husband, then fiance, and I heard it for the first time we immediately knew we needed this to be sung during the ceremony. It's absolutely beautiful beyond words.

I can't believe I haven't heard this till now. Perhaps the most beautiful choral work I have heard.

My high school choir is doing this right now and I’m absolutely hooked on it! It’s such a wonderful song and it makes me cry every time I hear it in full.... so touching

George Matheson's backstory that prompted him to write these words brings tears to my eyes, as I've know the same heartache. Hagenberg's arrangement is absolutely beautiful and brings the words to life in a touching way. Nicely done. Blessings to all.

Such control in the subtlety of the performance is breathtaking. Extremely beautiful....the men in the last few measures gives me chills. Gorgeous.

I am singing this song in my fifth grade choir. I love this song! It’s beautiful! ❤

Stunning arrangement of a familiar hymn. So moving!

Our choir is doing this now and it brings me to tears every time we sing it or when I listen to it. May be one of the most moving and powerful songs I've EVER heard!! I just added it to my list of songs I want done at my funeral.

The day after Barbara Bush's funeral, when the St. Martin's Episcopal Church (Houston) family, and I daresay the Nation, was still trying to process, the choir sang this hymn, and it was a beautiful way to help us through our feelings and appreciate the gifts that God offers to us.

Simply the most beautiful and touching anthem I’ve ever sung! Thanks so much. Can’t stop listening.

This was my first introduction to your music. I've sung this in my church choir. No matter how many times we sing it, when the last note is sung the congregation pauses as if to let the sound wash over them like a blessing. This song IS a blessing.

This is the song I want sung at my funeral.

Our choir has done that and it's a 'lump in the throat experience'! Beautiful!

I first heard this when my college's other choir (the one I wasn't in) sang it, and was enthralled. That summer, I joined a community choir in my hometown and we not only did this song but I got to sing the gorgeous tenor part! Thank you for this gift to the world, the tune, chords, and the lyrics are especially poignant right now.

I break that soultie right now..in JESUS name! Thank YOU! LORD..replace vacancy with the DEEP, DEEP LOVE OF JESUS..

Seriously one of the best choral pieces I’ve ever heard.

A beautiful window to divine grace and love. Thank you.

I'm crying as I hear this and remember my church choir singing it last year.

We just sang this for Honors Choir, this song is by far the best chorale piece I've ever heard and is second to none.

I just listened to this for my chorus class...Oh my goodness! I couldn’t listen without tearing up...the way this song carried my soul and heart to God and it made me realize that I have a life to live now. All i can say is that this song has saved me ❤️

O LOVE THAT WILT NOT LET ME GO (George Matheson) O Love that wilt not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee; I give thee back the life I owe, That in thine ocean depths its flow May richer, fuller be. O light that followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to thee; My heart restores its borrowed ray, That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day May brighter, fairer be. O Joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee; I trace the rainbow through the rain, And feel the promise is not vain, That morn shall tearless be. O Cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee; I lay in dust life’s glory dead, And from the ground there blossoms red Life that shall endless be.

I heard this beautiful anthem today in the church where former First Lady Barbara Pierce Bush had her funeral yesterday at St. Martin's Episcopal Church in Houston, Texas. It is incredibly moving and inspiring. It brought me to tears. Thank for so much for writing it.

Thank you, Elaine, for such a blessing.

Elaine, I heard this at church today for the first time. This song touched my soul. Thank you for this incredible, beautiful song!

Praise the Lord! Amazing talent and skill, Elaine.

One of the most beautiful pieces of music that have ever heard.

I was blessed to sing this when Elaine came to our church!! Love it!!

I would love this to be my last hymn sung by choir and congregation for my funeral. What an all encompassing poem of life's journey from the present to eternity!

I greatly admire your talent and your impeccable musical compositions that tell us about the almighty God. I will see you in eternity in the Celestial Canaan Elaine Hagenberg, member of the Celestial Choirs, you are a great woman.😙😙🐈🐈

I discovered this yesterday. This song gives hope at this moment.

I’m back. So long without choral music in my heart. I rest my weary in Thee. Thank you for this awe inspiring music, again and again.

Me and my varsity choir sung this for our CPA, and honestly every time I sung this with my fellow choir members I always tear up. It's truly a beautiful piece.

Sang this at blue lake this last summer, an absolute joy to sing, so simple yet so beautiful, thanks for the fun tenor part too :)

Such a beautiful beautiful song…and the words are simply perfection🙏🏻

We are doing this piece in my choir. I absolutely fell in love with it at the first listen! Theres so many small details. At surface level it looks simple, but yet there is do much beauty in the composition.

I always liked this simple but meaningful hymn. The choir in my church sang this arrangement yesterday for the celebration of Holy Communion. I lost it, right there in my seat. No kleenex and my wife was in the choir. 😭

Here I stand in the shadow of loves wings! 79 years of blessings

So beautiful - it made my heart sing and left me with the spirit of God and acknowledged again how much I am missing our choir at FBC-Austin. Will make me feel whole again when we can open up the churches everywhere. May God keep us in his arms until we can meet again. Sylvia Newsom

This piece is one that truly changed my mind. I performed it at "Adult Dorian" and preparing it, I was absolutely NOT a fan. However, after the first rehearsal of it, seeing my tears running down my face along with many others, I knew I had it all wrong. It has ended up being one of my "go-to listening" pieces when I need a peaceful smile. Being born and raised here in Iowa, performing a piece by an Iowan composer, at my Alma Mater (Luther College) made it truly a memory I will cherish always. Soli Deo Gloria

I love this hymn in its first setting and this is beautiful now as well. I'm so pleased we're going to sing it in the Stay at Home Choir!!!

The choir I sing in started rehearsing this tonight, the day after what would’ve been my father’s 71st birthday. We’re singing this for the Sunday our bishop visits and confirms people. My boyfriend is being confirmed that Sunday. I’m balling.

This song speaks volumes to me. I sang this at Ocean Grove Choir Festival exactly one week after my grandfather left this world, on the hour he went. I pray the pain will subside and one day that morn shall tearless be. We’re singing it at my chorale this spring. The alto part sounds perfect for the song.

Very beautiful Work, sung so well! 🎶

Thank you Elaine well done good and faithful servant of the Lord

This is a surprise..thank you ...comforting....

Oh how utterly beautiful!!

gosh their voices are so clear and smooth!! in short it sounds rlly niceee and so touching

I feel incredibly blessed that the Lord has led me to your music. It has touched my soul on an incredibly deeply profound level. Thank you for creating such beautiful masterpieces that dance across the soul.

I have never heard anything so beautiful.

my high school choir sang this with a college choir. we sang it on the night that we lost one of our good friends. she was only a sophomore. this song holds so much emotion because we didn’t know she had passed until after we performed. and it felt like my world fell apart. but we continued to sing this song, and we ended up singing it for a performance a couple weeks after she passed. and it just brought me to tears. this song will always have a place in my heart.

I always get excited when I see another piece by Elaine Hagenberg or Dan Forrest in our stack of new music for church choir or the community choirs I'm in. Such wonderful, lush writing and arrangements. We've sung this a few times in our church choir already.

Heard it for the first time sung by the Hour of Power choir. Absolutely beautiful and had me in tears.

Had the joy of singing this with the FBBC Chorale last school year. It was a constant reminder of how firmly God held me. It still comes through my mind regularly. As a survivor of sexual assault, I still battle to be calm and to rest again. But I can turn again to my God. I can rest my weary soul in Him. And He can give me perfect peace because He loves me enough to never let go.

Blessings from Taiwan 🇹🇼 😇 🥰 Thank you for this BEAUTIFUL and POWERFUL song ❤🎵 God bless you and your ministry 😇💖

We just started working on this for the Carnegie Hall Choral Festival in NYC. I'm honored to sing this piece

I remember 2 years ago singing the Ssa version of this piece on the stage of Carnegie hall with my community choir. I love this piece so much and I really want to recommend this for my school choir for next year. I’ll be a senior next year 😢 and this piece was one of my favorites I sang in high school. Thank you so much Elaine!

Wonderfully arranged, gorgeously sung!

the suspension in the section at 2:15 sends me every time!! we’re performing this at our concert tomorrow outdoors.

They sang this on Good Friday and I just wept uncontrollably.

We had this song in a set of two for a workshop concert, and it was so beautiful! Especially our tenor and bass sections! I could feel this piece in my heart and soul, and even months later now, I can still feel it. Thank you for this!

My choir sang this for our concert back in October, and oh my god this is such a beautiful piece. We performed this so well that my director actually started crying. Only now am I realizing what these lyrics actually mean, and they almost brought ME to tears. Everything about this is just amazing.

My choir is doing this piece on Sunday. I love it!! Thank you for your wonderful composition!

I get chills when I listen to your music. It's sooooo good!!! 😄 Your choir is the best!

I go to UK and we just recorded us singing this today (were the choristers) and it is by far my favorite piece. My wonderful teacher Mrs. Wilson constantly raves about how beautiful your music is and she is 100% correct. We are so grateful for the opportunity to sing as a choir this year, and this song made it even better.

I sang this 2 days ago at a high school concert I can not tell u how much I tried holding in my tears I cried after the curtains closed I was supposed this wasn't are finale

My most favourite song of all. love the international staff songsters singing this.

My grandma is on her deathbed right now. My mom let me listen to this tonight and it made me cry for so long. She always loved the ocean too so great choice of background. Thank you so much for creating this piece of music. I’m also a part of my schools band and choir so it means more than words can express

Our Church choir director sang this as a solo at my husband’s funeral Mass. He loved this song.

This is so beautiful. Thank you.🔵💙 Psalm 116:6