Ralph Carmichael (1927-2021) says that this little song, to be sung before prayer, was written for a group of California young people in the 1960s when he was doing work with Youth for Christ.

Biography: Ralph Carmichael was born May 27, 1927, in Quincy, Illinois. He began to study violin on a one eighth-size instrument at the age of 4. The family moved to California, and during school days he directed musical Calvary Assembly in Inglewood, sang male quartets, played his violin in surrounding churches, and composed background music for a radio program. In 1949 he went on television while it was in its infant stages. Featuring student singers and orchestra, his Campus Christian Hour continued for 76 weeks in Pasadena, California, and won an Emmy Award.

In 1950 Billy Graham opened the door for music in Christian films, and Ralph composed the scores for Mr. Texas, His Land, For Pete’s Sake, and The Restless Ones. It was for the latter that he wrote his successful song “He’s Everything To Me.” His expert skill as an orchestra arranger and conductor soon brought contracts with Capitol Records, Warner Brothers, and Kapp Records. He worked with many of the big-name artists, including Bing Crosby and pianist Roger Williams.

He also wrote musical scores for several hit television shows, including I Love Lucy. But as he said, “I always keep coming back to gospel music,” which is his first love. He established the firm Lexicon Music, Inc., in 1963 as a publishing outlet (now in Newbury Park, California) for his own songs and those of other talented Christian composers.

In 1967 he launched Light Records, which has enjoyed a phenomenal success. A long list of the top names in contemporary Christian music are under his label and distribution. Always an innovator, he pioneered Christian musicals with Tell It Like It Is, Natural High, and others, which sold into the millions of copies. For a time, he was musical director for Oral Roberts’ television program.

More than 200 original songs have come from his pen, including two more in SDAH, No. 503, “A Quiet Place,” and No. 671, “As We Come To You in Prayer.” He has given us a little idea of how he feels about creativity and Christian music: “On the mountain and through the valley, God has been like another presence, ever in my consciousness. His mind ever impressing itself of my own; His will always the pattern by which to measure my own; His strength inexhaustible and immediately available to replace my own failing strength. His work totally consumes me. I am the most thankful man in the world! Looking back, I get the feeling that everything that ever happened to me was by way of preparation to meet the challenge of today…In our wildest imagination, we couldn’t conjecture what God has still planned ahead.”

Ralph makes his home in Hidden Valley, California.

from Companion to SDA Hymnal, 1988.