Goodreads asked Denise K. Loock:

Where did you get the idea for your most recent book?

Denise K. Loock In the summer of 2008, I sent a hand-made card to Casey, a friend who was battling a fatal disease. On the front I printed the words of one of my favorite songs, I Must Tell Jesus. After Casey received it, she sent me an email and asked me if I had written the beautiful poem.
What poem? I wondered. And then I realized she must have meant the lyrics and that puzzled me. Casey had been a Christian for decades. We had attended the same church for over ten years. The song was in our church hymnal, yet she had never heard it.
I left the computer, walked over to the piano, and picked up a hymnal. As I thumbed through its pages, I recognized songs from childhood that I hadn’t sung for years. I also discovered hymns I’d never heard and lyrics that were profoundly rich in biblical truth. I looked at the names of the lyricists. Some I knew--Charles Wesley and Fanny Crosby. Others were strangers to me like Samuel Trevor Francis and William Williams. Who were these hymn writers? What had motivated them to proclaim their faith and pass on their insights in songs?
About that time, I started working in the church office. The minister of music asked me if I would put together the rehearsal schedule and devotion that he distributed to the choir each week. I quickly agreed, realizing that God had given me an opportunity to explore the spiritual heritage of church music and to share my discoveries with others.
Eventually, I took those devotions and approached Eddie Jones of Lighthouse Publishing of the Carolinas about publishing them as a devotional titled Open Your Hymnal.

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