Word of your continued illness burdens my heart greatly. I take you to the Lord in prayer, daily, pleading for your comfort and healing, and for the weight of the day to be lifted from you. My daily work has been a needed distraction and reason to lift my eyes unto the hills. Only God knows the grief and loss I bear. I take it to Him in prayer from the first light of the morning to the setting of the sun. As the darkness of the night lingers within my thoughts I do the same.
I encourage you, as I encourage the burdened and heavy laden that surround me, pray without ceasing. The God in whom we trust through our Lord Jesus Christ is our only hope in the darkest of days, when our strength fails and our friends go their own way. I have penned a poem for you and have enclosed it within this letter. I hope it encourages and strengthens you in the days ahead.
Yours,
Joseph
Pray Without Ceasing
What a friend we have in Jesus all our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer! O what peace we often forfeit O what needless pain we bear. All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.
Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere? We should never be discouraged Take it to the Lord in prayer. Can we find a friend so faithful Who will all our sorrows share? Jesus knows our every weakness Take it to the Lord in prayer
Are we weak and heavy laden, Cumbered with a load of care? Precious Savior, still our refuge- Take it to the Lord in prayer; Do thy friends despise forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer; In His arms He’ll take and shield thee, Thou wilt find a solace there.
Join Us & Sing (with a bit of what we learn from the hymn)
“Eugene,” Joan called out. Ever since he had suffered his stroke, she was used to his presence at her side. She rarely left him alone, and he was always trying to find some way to help or remain active, in spite of his paralysis.
The house was too quiet. She made her way through the hall toward their room. Most of the time, Eugene was listening to gospel music on the radio. It was unusual to not hear some music.
“Eugene?” she called again. The bedroom door was closed. She knocked and pushed the door open slowly.
She breathed a sigh of relief. There he was, sitting in his wheelchair. He stirred when he heard Joan enter the room.
“You nearly gave me a fright, you know,” she declared as she patted his shoulder. “Were you taking a nap?”
“No.” Eugene adjusted in the chair uncomfortably. “It has been a long time, Joan…” his voice trailed off.
“I know, sweetie.” Joan leaned in and knelt at his side. “These are difficult days.”
“Since my stroke, I’ve had little inspiration for much of anything,” he said, his speech slightly slurred. “I was in prayer, today, and the Lord gave me a song.”
Joan choked up. “Oh, Eugene…tell me more about it.”
“I’ve grieved so for what I have lost. I’m not able to travel and perform. I’m not much around the house.” He paused. “It’s been very difficult for both of us, I know. You’ve been so good to me…and patient.”
Joan stood up and turned to face him. “Now, Eugene Monroe Bartlett, you know that when we vowed before the Lord to love one another ‘in sickness and in health’ I took that very seriously. It took you months to convince me to marry you.”
“I know, but this is not about that. I fear that I have begun to lose sight of what is most important. The Lord gave me a song to remind me.” He held out a piece of paper, tears in his eyes. Joan took it and saw that familiar tilt of Eugene’s script. “He reminded me of the precious victory I have in Jesus, Joan…and gave me a song to remind His Church of the same.”
Joan began to read aloud:
Victory in Jesus, my Savior Forever
He sought me and He bought me with His redeeming blood.
He loved me ‘ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him.
He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood.
The second verse caused her to choke up. She knew there was such hurt and pain over the stroke and its effects. As she read the verse, she thought of how prayers had been prayed over Eugene, how she had cried out to God, how he had cried and even asked, “Why?” She understood the great healing that he was describing there was twofold, both of the life broken by sin and a spirit broken by grief in the midst of the most difficult times through which they were walking.
She smiled at Eugene and said, “I especially love this verse.”
I heard about His healing, Of His cleansing pow’r revealing. How He made the lame to walk again And caused the blind to see; And then I cried, “Dear Jesus, Come and heal my broken spirit,” And somehow Jesus came and bro’t To me the victory.
“Come in! Come in!” Phoebe said as she opened the door. “I have some tea in the parlor…BUT before we have our tea I want to share something with you.”
Fanny made her way into the house, taking Phoebe’s arm for guidance.
“Here, let me take your jacket,” Phoebe offered.
“Thank you. The chill of the wind was a bit overwhelming. I’m grateful to have the warmth of your home for a respite.” Fanny handed her coat to Phoebe as she wiped her feet before stepping into out of the entry hall. “I smell the mint in the air. And what is that? Lemon?”
Phoebe laughed. “Of course, my dear, I remember how much you like the zest of lemon in your tea.” She was always amazed at the insight her friends’ senses gave her in spite of her blindness.
“I can always count on you, Phoebe, to spare no effort in the details.” They laughed together as they made their way into the main house. “Now what is so important that you wish to share that would delay us enjoying our tea? May I ask.”
“Well, you can sip your tea and listen if you want, but I want to share the piece of music I have been blessed to work on this week. It was as if the Lord was pouring it into my heart for me to share with you, Fanny!”
They made their way into the parlor, Phoebe leading Fanny to a chair near the piano. “Now, you sit here and I’ll retrieve your tea. Would you like sugar, today?”
“Of course. It will sweeten the experience.” Fanny said with a laugh.
Phoebe smiled, anticipating how her friend would react to the new piece of music she had composed. They had spent years writing and composing together and she just knew this was a song for Fanny to hear and pen some lyrics.
She handed Fanny her tea, which was received with urgency. Fanny loved her mint tea, with a hint of lemon zest. She sipped with pleasure.
“So good, my friend. Thank you. Now, let’s hear what the Lord has given.”
Phoebe bowed her head and whispered a prayer, then began playing. She played through the entire tune, adding a flourish here and there, her back to Fanny. She had not observed that Fanny had laid her head back after the first time, gazing as through the ceiling, her blind eyes open wide and her smile broadening with each measure.
Phoebe played the final D chord and turned to her friend. At this point, Fanny was sitting forward in her chair, waiting for her friend to complete her presentation.
“So, Fanny. You’ve heard the tune, now. What do you hear it saying?”
Without hesitation and with great elation, Fanny burst forth, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!” She leaned back with a smile, repeating, “Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!”
Before she had finished, Phoebe joined her…”Jesus is mine! Oh, Fanny! I knew this was a tune from the Lord, just for you!” She picked up her tea from the table and sipped. “Now, what more do you see.”
She turned and began to play again, pausing with each phrase and looking Fanny’s way. Her smile broadened as Fanny began again, singing the melody…
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood!
They continued for a quarter hour, playing, singing…Phoebe had begun inscribing the lyrics within the music she had composed.
This is my story, this is my song
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
…and the story of Fanny’s blind faith continues with us.
Frances “Fanny” Crosby and Phoebe Knapp composed many hymns together over the years, but Blessed Assurance is the hymn that most people remember and sing as one of their favorites.
Fanny was blinded as a baby as a result of a doctor prescribing a mustard poultice for her eyes to reduce swelling and treat infection. The damage to her optic nerves was not reversible. Later in life, Fanny was asked if she would ever change her blindness if she were able. She said this:
“If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind… for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Savior.”
Information about Fanny Crosby, her life, and her writings are readily available. I have included a few links in the notes, below. Don’t forget to join us in singing along with our video presentation found here:
Just a quick note: just below our story, there is a clickable that will open more details, including a video that includes an opportunity to sing our featured hymn, “Amazing Grace.”
As John looked out the window of his attic study, he saw the snow falling once again across the church grounds and wondered about the people who would gather the following day for the new year’s prayer service. He prayed for them to come with a renewed gratitude for the profound move that God was continuing to make in their lives, often in spite of their wandering affections.
He knew those wanderings all too well. He reflected again on the course his life had taken since that fateful day in 1748. The ship he was tasked to serve was being tossed by a storm like none he had ever seen. He remembered so clearly crying out, “Lord have mercy on us!” It was the 21st of March…and since that day he had committed himself to a day of remembrance, fasting and prayer.[1] He could never get over the mercy of God to preserve his life and the lives of those on the ship.
“What of this year?” he thought. “Here at the dawning of 1773, what might I say that will bring the hearts of those who come to bow before their gracious God.”
He had chosen for his text 1 Chronicles 17:16, 17
And David the king came and sat before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God, for thou hast also spoken of thy servant’s house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O LORD God.
“Who am I?” John thought.
It was a thought that echoed through his mind often. As he looked into the face of his dear wife, Mary; as he looked across the faces gathered at Olney chapel; as he put pen to paper and wrote a lyric or recorded notes for a sermon…”Who am I?”
“This question should be always upon our minds. Who am I? What was I when the Lord began to manifest his purposes of love?” [2]
He put pen to paper and continued reflecting on the encouragement he would give. “When the Lord chose to act in love toward us, he found us miserable, rebellious, and undeserving.”
Once again, John reflected on his former life. His thoughts and speech were profane. His rebellious attitude had landed him among the slaves of the Sherbro of Sierra Leone, only to be delivered by sailors dispatched by his father to retrieve him. He had resigned himself to a life of servitude, determined to make Sierra Leone his home, except that his love for Polly (Mary) and the opportunity to return to her offered by the delivering sailors.[3]
His mercy came to us not only undeserved but undesired. Yea [a] few [of] us but resisted his calls, and when he knocked at the door of our hearts endeavoured to shut him out till he overcame us by the power of his grace. [2]
He shuffled the papers aside for a moment. His eyes fell on the lyric he had written especially for this prayer service. As he read them, he imagined again what love God must have to save one like him – A rebel, drafted into the Royal Navy only to be discharged with dishonor for desertion…serving the slave trade, first as a ships mate, then eventually a captain of a slave ship…and that even after he had cried upon the Lord for mercy. He sighed deeply and read, aloud:
Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound) That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind, but now I see.
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, And grace my fears relieved; How precious did that grace appear, The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares, I have already come; ‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far, And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me, His word my hope secures; He will my shield and portion be, As long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail And mortal life shall cease; I shall possess, within the veil, A life of joy and peace.
As he spoke those last lyrics, his eyes once again watched the falling snow across the lawn. He thought of the future, when all this present world would pass away. The truth of grace rang within his mind and heart. “Nothing I hold will matter then,” he thought. “Only that forever will mean that I am God’s and he is mine.” He dipped his quill and scrawled a final verse.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, The sun forbear to shine; But God, who called me here below, Will be forever mine. [4]
“Who am I, indeed?”
CLICK BELOW TO OPEN OUR NOTES AND VIDEO FEATURE
Click for notes and video…
Some things I found interesting as I read and learned about John Newton and Amazing Grace [3]:
It was an expected practice during Newton’s time for parish pastors to write hymns.
Newton was criticized for the simplicity of his lyrics and their testimony quality, often using first-person narrative (I.e. saved a wretch like me)
The majority of hymnals usually only include four or five verses…and the fourth verse is not original to Newton, but an addition from a Negro Spiritual, “Jerusalem My Happy Home”, that had between 50 and 70 verses. That verse was first recorded in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s book, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” which was published in 1852. It’s the one that begins, “When we’ve been there ten thousand years…”
The tune most of us know is called “New Britain” and was not used until the 19th Century (1847), during the revivalism of the Second Great Awakening in North America.
John Newton’s journal includes this note about the 1773 New Year’s Day prayer service: “I preached this Forenoon from 1 Chron. 17.16,17. Hope I was enabled to speak with some liberty, but found my own heart sadly unaffected.” Read the full journal entry.
