TIS SO SWEET TO TRUST IN JESUS

Louisa Stead and her husband were relaxing with their four-year-old daughter on a Long Island beach when they heard a child's desperate cry. A boy was drowning, and Louisa's husband tried to rescue him. In the process, however, the boy pulled Mr. Stead under the water, and both drowned as Louisa and her daughter watched.

Louisa Stead was left with no means of support. She and her daughter experienced dire poverty. One morning, when she had neither funds nor food for the day, she opened the front door and found that someone had left food and money on her doorstep.                 That day she wrote this hymn.

Sometimes we mouth platitudes about our Christianity — glibly quot­ing Scripture and singing songs about trusting Jesus. For Stead, there was nothing glib or superficial about it.  She had no choice but to trust him.

Her hymn remains a timeless reminder and comfort to all believers who have experienced this same truth: "Jesus, Jesus, how I trust Him! / How I've proved Him o'er and o'er! / Jesus, Jesus, precious Jesus! / O for grace to trust Him more!"

MY FAITH LOOKS UP TO THEE

At twenty-two, Ray Palmer was having a tough year. He wanted to go into the ministry but was stuck teaching at a girls' school in New York City. He was lonely, depressed, and sick.

One night at his boarding-house, he wrote a poem in a little morocco-bound notebook to bolster his own courage. Later he recalled, "There was not the slightest thought of writing a hymn for Christian wor­ship."

But two years later, while visiting Boston, he ran across his friend Lowell Mason. Mason, a major figure in American music in the early 1800s, was preparing a new hymnal. He asked Palmer if he'd like to con­tribute anything.

Palmer bashfully showed Mason these verses. Mason hurried into a nearby store, got a piece of paper, and copied the poem.

When he handed the notebook back to Palmer, he said, "You may live many years and do many good things, but I think you will be best known to posterity as the author of'My Faith Looks Up to Thee.'

That night Lowell Mason went home and wrote the music for the words that Ray Palmer had held in his pocket for two years.

IN HEAVENLY LOVE ABIDING

 Anna Waring was a shy woman, and the future sometimes frightened her.   

She was also a brilliant woman; she taught herself Hebrew so she could read the Old Testament in its original language. As Anna grew older, she fought against her shyness and her fears by visiting prisons.

 Yet she continually struggled with her shyness and fears. So it is understandable if in this hymn she talks about fear, about storms roaring about her, and about how her heart was laid low.

 Yet she speaks of her confidence—and ours—"But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed?"

Take the Name of Jesus With You

Although Lydia Baxter was a bedridden invalid for much of her life people who were depressed came to visit her in order to have their spirits lifted. Christian leaders often met in her home for prayer and Bible study. Lydia loved to study the Bible and had a special joy in learning the meaning of scriptural names.

But the Name above all names to her was Jesus. When she was asked how she could remain so cheerful, she responded, "I have a very special armor. I have the name of Jesus. When the tempter tries to make me blue or despondent, I mention the name of Jesus, and he can't get through to me anymore.

When I feel badly and wonder if I will ever enjoy a good night's sleep again, I take the name of Jesus and ask Him to give me the soothing balm of his presence. He does, and soon I drop oft to sleep."

When Lydia was sixty-one years old, she wrote the words to this song, which was basically a testimony of her life,

"Take the Name of Jesus with You." 

MORNING HAS BROKEN

The unusual story behind this hymn has many twists and turns. Ori­ginally, the song was a Gaelic hymn.

 In the 1880s a wandering Highland minstrel was singing the tune in Scotland when someone noted the melody and preserved it for posterity.

In 1918 a Scottish poet put words to the melody using the title "Child in the Manger."

In the 1920s, the editor of a British hymnal was looking for a light and happy hymn to sing at the beginning of a new day, and he wanted it sung to the old Gaelic tune.

He asked a well-known writer to do it. Eleanor Farjeon was a play-Wright, novelist, and journalist who had been on a long spiritual journey.  Though she was of Jewish descent, Eleanor became an Anglican as a teenager, then dabbled in spiritism and reincarnation. She led a Bohemian lifestyle before she was received into the Roman Catholic Church at the age of seventy.

Eleanor wrote the text based on Genesis 1:5, and she called it "Thanks for the Day.

But the song wasn't widely known until the 1970s, when Cat Stevens, and a very active Muslim, made a recording of it that went the top of the charts.

COME THOU ALMIGHTY KING

The author of this hymn is anonymous, probably for a good reason. The "British national anthem, "God Save Our Gracious King," had just been written. The anthem quickly became popular throughout England.

But the king was not popular among Methodists, who did not want to sing praises to their earthly king.

It is thought that Charles Wesley probably wrote the hymn "Come, Thou Almighty King" anonymously to set the priorities straight.

It is the King of kings and Lord of lords who deserves our ultimate honor and complete allegiance.

Presidents, kings, and other ruling officials should be honored and prayed for, but we must keep our priorities straight.

There is an almighty King greater than any earthly ruler.

During the Revolutionary War, a company of British soldiers attended a church on Long Island.

They demanded that the congrega­tion sing "God Save Our Gracious King" to honor the king of England.

The congregation sang the tune, but the words they used were from Come, Thou Almighty King."