Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
 “Behold, God is my salvation;
    I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
    and he has become my salvation.” (Isaiah 12:2).

During my quiet time, this passage of Isaiah touched my heart very deeply, and I learned that this passage was also the fountain to inspire a very lovely hymn, “’Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus.”

The author of this hymn was Louisa M. R. Stead, and she was from Dover, England. She was born about 1850, and when she was nine years old, she became a Christian. From a very early age, she had a desire to serve the Lord on the mission field. When she was 21 years old, she moved to the United States, and during a revival meeting, she was very sure that the Lord was calling her as missionary overseas.

Her first aim was to serve the Lord in China, but her health was not good at that time. It is during this time that she married Mr. Stead, but sadly, between 1879 or 1880, Mr. Stead drowned off the coast of Long Island. There are several versions of this tragic accident, like, he was trying to save a boy who was drowning. Another says that he and the boy died, yet another version is that he was saving his own daughter, but the facts are unclear.

After this sad situation, Louisa went with her daughter to South Africa as a missionary and it was during this time that she wrote this famous hymn.
“'Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus,
and to take him at his word;
just to rest upon his promise,
and to know, ‘Thus saith the Lord.’”

She married to her second husband, Robert Wodehouse, and they served as missionaries for fifteen years. Because of her health, they returned to United States, and where they served in a local Methodist church.

After her health was restored, this couple went to a missionary conference, where they accepted once again, to serve the Lord in Africa.

“O how sweet to trust in Jesus,
Just to trust His cleansing blood;
Just in simple faith to plunge me
'Neath the healing, cleansing flood!”

Her legacy continued even after her passing in 1917, because her daughter married missionary D. A. Carson, and together they served the Lord for many years in Zimbabwe.

If the Lord called you to serve, follow his voice and trust in Him, because He will be with you during this journey.

“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!”

Let me close this article with the words from Psalm 56:11,
“In God I trust; I shall not be afraid.”
​
In His service,
Israel