'Tis So Sweet

I was listening to my Keith and Kristyn Getty Pandora station earlier, and Phillips, Craig, and Dean's version of "'Tis So sweet" came on. I've grown up hearing this song, and it probably ranks among my favorite hymns (though, granted, I have a rather long list of "favorites"). I love the lyrics, I love the tune, and today I discovered that I particularly like PC&D's rendition. However, until today I hadn't given much of a thought to the background of the hymn, i.e. the circumstances that led to its being written. I googled the hymnwriter, Louisa Stead, and discovered this:

Louisa Stead and her husband were relaxing with their four-year-old daughter on a Long Island beach when they heard a desperate child's 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 except the Lord. 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.

Tis So Sweet

Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus
Just to take Him at His word
Just to rest upon his promise
Just to know, "thus saith the Lord"

Yes tis sweet to trust in Jesus
Just from sin and self to cease
Just from Jesus simply taking
Life and rest and joy and peace

Jesus, Jesus how I trust Him
How I've proved Him o'er and o'er
Jesus, Jesus precious Jesus
Oh for grace to trust Him more

I'm so glad I learned to trust Him
Precious Jesus, Savior, Friend
And I know that Thou art with me
Wilt be with me to the end
—Louisa Stead

What an amazing testimony to God's grace and the joy that comes in knowing Him. May I, likewise, "learn to trust Him: and know that He is "with me, wilt be with me to the end."