Songs And Disabilities
Hi, I’m Joni Eareckson Tada, and I want to share with you a frequent prayer; it’s a prayer that I often sing. Just listen:
I must tell Jesus all of my trials,
I cannot bear these burdens alone;
In my distress he kindly will help me,
He ever loves and cares for his own.
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
I cannot bear these burdens alone;
I must tell Jesus! I must tell Jesus!
Jesus will help me, Jesus alone.
Now that’s a hymn I often sing. When I kick my mind out of gear, just relaxing, I let my thoughts go – this is the hymn that most often surfaces out of my heart. “I Must Tell Jesus.” I love to sing it at night, flat on my back when I am in bed, looking face-up at the ceiling. It’s a Psalm 119 hymn, verse 147 that says, “I was up before sunrise, crying for help, hoping for a word from you [oh Lord]. I stayed awake all night, prayerfully pondering your promises.” You know, because I’m paralyzed, I cannot move at all except to look up. And this hymn especially speaks to me because it was written by someone with a disability. It seems that people who were disabled, even bedridden – you know, flat on their backs looking up – these are the ones who were the greatest hymn writers. I mean, just listen to the names of all these hymns and who wrote them and what their condition was.
Do you know that old hymn, “More About Jesus”? A woman named Eliza Hewitt wrote it. She was a schoolteacher and once struck with a heavy slate by one of her students; it resulted in a severe spinal cord injury. John Milton wrote, “Let Us with a Gladsome Mind.” He became blind when he was in his 40s. And then that beautiful one, “Abide with Me.” “Fast falls the eventide; when darkness deepens, Lord with me abide.” I’m sure you know that. Henry Lyte wrote it. He was laid up with tuberculosis and asthma virtually all his life. Then there’s William Cowper, he wrote “God Moves in Mysterious Ways.” That’s a great old hymn of the faith. And for Mr. Cowper, hymn-writing was the best therapy. He was mentally ill, and he frequently lapsed into deep depressions. But it was during those times of depression that he would write his best hymns.
“Children of the Heavenly Father.” That’s another old hymn. Carolina Sandell Berg wrote that. As a young child, she had become bedridden with a mysterious paralysis. And then there’s Isaac Watts. Now there’s a hymn-writer of the church! He wrote that classic Christmas hymn “Joy to the World.” But just know Isaac Watts was sickly all the way from his teenage years when, finally, smallpox nearly killed him. And of course, the most famous disabled hymn writer was Fanny Crosby. “All the Way My Savior Leads Me.” That’s one of my favorites, and she was only six weeks old when she lost her sight because of a doctor’s error. But this remarkable woman later on said, she said:
“I have believed that the good Lord, in his infinite mercy, has, through my blindness, consecrated me to the work that I am permitted to do.”
© Joni and Friends
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