For comments on this text, see SDAH 678.

Lorayne Coombs has rearranged the original words of this devotional prayer, and used only four of the couplets, introducing the “Oh” before the fourth, omitting the final one about death. Lorayne was born July 11, 1919 to Seventh-day Adventist missionary parents in Shanghai, China. Her father, Dr. H. O. Swartout, was the author of The Modern Medical Counselor, sold by many student colporteurs to finance college education. Back in California, he served as chief public health officer of San Luis Obispo and Los Angeles counties. Lorayne started her musical career by singing in the White Memorial Seventh-day Adventist church choir, Los Angeles, at age 13. She went on to sing in and direct small groups, summer choirs, and eventually the Sanctuary Choir, serving the White Memorial Church for more than 40 years. Her early formal music training was in the form of private piano and violin lessons. She attended Occidental College, Los Angeles, and earned the B.A. and M.A. degrees, with emphasis in choral conducting, under the tutelage of Howard Swan. The music for “God Be in My Head” was written during this educational experience. The original was in the key of C and written chorally for a six-part choir. She changed the key to D to accommodate the two basses in her choir who could sing a low D but not a low C. SDAH has simplified it to four-part harmony, preserving all of her original progressions, and chose her original key of C to make the high notes easier for a congregation. This piece has traveled all over the world in manuscript form, becoming a solid favorite with Adventist choirs; this is its first time in a hymn book.

Lorayne and her physician husband, Sam Coombs, now enjoy retirement in San Dimas, California.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.