The story behind the song: ‘His Name is Wonderful’, courtesy of Lindsay Terry on staugustine.com.
“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The Mighty God, The everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” - Isaiah 9:6
In the late 1980s, Audrey Mieir of California wrote her most famous song, on Christmas Day, a Sunday. Audrey was 43 years old at the time. This is her story:
“We wanted to do something special in our little church, Bethel Union Church in Duarte, California. We were using the young people in a Christmas play. Mary was a teenage girl and the angels were young boys. The ‘baby’ was a doll.
The whole place smelled of pine boughs, which we used to decorate the church. The atmosphere was charged. It seemed that the whole room was filled with the presence of the angels of God. People were wiping tears away, remembering many other Christmases gone by.
At the conclusion of our play I took my place on a pew near the front. The pastor, Dr. Luther Mieir, my brother-in-law, stood up and slowly lifted his hands toward heaven and said, ‘His name is Wonderful!’
Those words electrified me. I immediately began writing in the back of my Bible. As I wrote I was thinking that God has something he wants said. I wrote a simple chorus and I sang it that night for the young people around the piano. They sang it immediately. It wasn’t hard for them to learn.”
“At that moment I did not foresee the ministry one little song of praise could have. I never dreamed that I would hear it sung in a TV station in Taiwan, in the great churches of Sweden, all through Korea and the Philippines or in the rooftop schools of Hong Kong, where it would be lifted heavenward by thousands of students.
My fondest dream could never conceive of it being sung in four languages at the Vatican in Rome in the presence of the Pope, or that I would hear it sung in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus was crucified, an experience that was joy unspeakable!”
Audrey said that she considered herself only a channel in writing this song, and was not otherwise involved. She gave God all of the glory for using her to give the world such a song of praise.
His name is wonderful, His name is wonderful, His name is wonderful, Jesus my Lord. He is the mighty King, Master of everything, His name is wonderful, Jesus, my Lord.
He’s the great Shepherd, The Rock of all ages, Almighty God is He. Bow down before Him, Love and adore Him, His name is wonderful! Jesus my Lord.
Carol Goffe
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