How Sweet the Name

This evening Eric and I went out together to celebrate our anniversary. We headed to Florence because that is where he took me on our first date. We have claimed it as "Our Town". When we were deciding what to do this evening, I asked him if it would be okay if we visit Ivy Green, Helen Keller's birthplace, in Tuscumbia, Alabama. I had never been and have always wanted to go. He said that it was beautiful, so that is where we went first.


Helen Keller was born June 27, 1880, a normal, healthy child. At 19 months of age she had a high fever that left her blind and deaf. One of the hostesses at Ivy Green wrote a devotional about Helen. I read it there in the room they call "The Museum". I stood there reading it and found myself crying. Lisabeth Foster, the author was there and allowed me to have a copy of it. I would like to share a portion of it with you.

"One story that impresses me every time I tell it is about the time she went off to the school for the blind with Miss Sullivan, her teacher, at the age of nine. She had never learned about God because her parents couldn't communicate with her. While she was attending school, a minister came to Perkins Institute and explained in sign language, in her palm, about God. She signed back to him, 'I always knew that He was there, I just didn't know His name.'

A little, blind, deaf child knew that God exists even in her 'prison of darkness'."

God has seen fit to allow me sight and hearing. I am thankful for both of those senses. I don't want to take them for granted. I am able to see and hear the evidence that God exists. I want to use my senses to tune into Him and not push Him away as other things call out for my attention.

The devotion lists the hymn for this day is "How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds". The words to this hymn are below. How fortunate we are to know His name and to hear its sweet sound in our ears! Share it with someone else today.

How sweet the Name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrow, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

It makes the wounded spirit whole,
And calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest.

Dear Name! the Rock on which we build;
Our shield and hiding-place;
Our never-failing treasury, filled
With boundless stores of grace.

Jesus, our Savior, Shepherd, Friend,
Our Prophet, Priest, and King;
Our Lord, our Life, our Way, our End,
Accept the praise we bring.

Weak is the effort of our heart,
And cold our warmest thought;
But when we see Thee as Thou art,
We'll praise Thee as we ought.

Till then we would Thy love proclaim
With every fleeting breath;
And triumph in that blessed Name
Which quells the pow'r of death.