Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing) Song Story
Perhaps you can relate to how today’s song came into existence. It’s co-composers, Brian Doerksen and Brenton Brown, still chuckle at how God gives inspiration even amidst the ordinary and routine trappings of our lives, and how simple beginnings can be transformed into global impacts when placed in God’s hands! Read below the true and humorous story in Brian Doerksen’s own words as found on his MySpace blog.
My co-writer Brenton Brown is originally from South Africa, and I met him as one of the emerging worship leaders I mentored in the late 90s while we lived in England.
In the early part of 2000, shortly after we moved back to Canada, Brenton came to visit us and do some co-writing. On this particular day, things were not going well on the home front. Isaiah, our ‘Made in England’ souvenir, was not a happy baby! My wife, Joyce, was in the kitchen trying to make the family dinner, and Brenton and I were trying to be creative and write songs in my home office. Finally, in exasperation, Joyce brought crying Isaiah to me, put him in my arms and said, ‘You look after him for a while!’ So I headed to the living room to try and calm Isaiah down by sitting in the rocking chair. I rocked him for a while, trying to calm him down, but he was still very fussy and crying. A short while later, Brenton burst into the living room with another idea. Now, being the slightly clueless single that he was at the time, he didn’t get the direct and indirect messages that our songwriting session was over for the day! Isaiah is crying on my lap – and not very impressed with this noisy singing going on – and I am looking at Brenton, thinking, ‘Perhaps now is not a good time?’ and he launches into his idea anyway.
‘I have this idea for a song that I haven’t played for you yet – I have a strong start to a verse but I have no chorus.’ (All songwriters out there can relate to this situation!)
Your love is amazing steady and unchanging. Your love is a mountain firm beneath my feet.
‘And that’s all I have!’
And so with Isaiah squirming and fussing I call out, ‘Why don’t you do this for the chorus?’ and I literally sing out the melody as you know it.
Hallelujah Hallelujah Hallelujah Your love makes me sing
‘And then sing it again!’
Brenton looks at me and says, ‘No way!’ and I say, ‘Yes way!’
Well, I am still singing this song…and Brenton is too, along with other recording artists and worship leaders! Its been so fun to see the joy and celebration this song has released around the world – a very special gift for me, because my songs have tended to land more on the intense and intimate side.
My wife sometimes blesses me to go away for a couple of days to retreat and write. But sometimes, if I ask her, she looks at me with a twinkle in her eye and just says, ‘Hallelujah!’ I know what she is saying – that even in the middle of crazy family life God can give good creative gifts!
What good creative gift may God be trying to bless you with today? Are you so busy that you’re in jeopardy of overlooking it? Remember, God is in the business of turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. Look for His hand at work in your life today.
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