One would never guess that the author of this enthusiastic song of testimony was experiencing deep pain and grief. The song was written after Rufus McDaniel (1850-1940) had buried his youngest son, the joy of his father's heart. When the boy’s life ended at an early age in 1913, the parents were heartbroken.
McDaniel became ordained as a minister at the age of twenty-three. In the years before the death of his son, he’d written many hymns but had lost interest in doing so some time before he died. He decided to write a gospel song filled with joy and hope as a way to honor his son’s life. He commented, “I should never have undertaken the work again had I not been moved to do so through this great bereavement.” Doing so lifted him and his wife out of their grief, and God has used this song to encourage countless numbers of people.
The music was composed by Charles H. Gabriel, one of the most popular gospel-song composers during the crusades, led by Billy Sunday and Homer Rodeheaver. It was introduced in 1915 at their Philadelphia crusade and became so popular that it was soon included in over 200 hymnals. Within a year of its publication, Gabriel called it “the song of the day.” A story is told that a police officer who was on duty during the Philadelphia meetings accepted Christ because of this song and then led more than 100 of his fellow officers to Christ.
Through his grief, Rufus McDaniel rededicated his life to the Lord and expressed the joy he experienced from faith that sustained him in his time of darkness. He praised God for the “wonderful change” God’s grace had made in his life. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Corinthians 5:17).
What a wonderful change in my life has been wrought
Since Jesus came into my heart!
I have light in my soul for which long I had sought,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
Refrain:
Since Jesus came into my heart,
Since Jesus came into my heart,
Floods of joy o’er my soul like the sea billows roll,
Since Jesus came into my heart.
I have ceased from my wand’ring and going astray,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
And my sins which were many are all washed away
Since Jesus came into my heart!
I’m possessed of a hope that is steadfast and sure,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
And no dark clouds of doubt now my pathway obscure,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
There’s a light in the valley of death now for me,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
And the gates of the city beyond I can see,
Since Jesus came into my heart!
I shall go there to dwell in that city I know
Since Jesus came into my heart!
And I’m happy, so happy as onward I go.
Since Jesus came into my heart!
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