More Grace

“Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

There are people who help me put my illness into perspective when I get a little down, people who have been where I am, and even in worse situations, people who seem to radiate Jesus and take full advantage of the plan He has for them. One of those people is a woman named Annie Johnson Flint.

To give you a little background, Annie was born in 1866. Three years after she was born, her mother died giving birth to Annie’s little sister. Her father was very ill and willed Annie and her sister to the Flint family who brought her up to be a Christian. Annie wanted to be a teacher, so she took the one-year teaching course, but in the second year of her teaching career, she started to develop severe arthritis, to the point where she could no longer walk and had to give up teaching. In addition to that, her adoptive parents, the Flints, both died within months of each other.

Annie tended to be a cheerful and optimistic person, even in her misfortune. She started writing cards and books of poems. She wrote one hymn that is especially meaningful to people who are suffering. It also means so much more to know that she wrote this hymn with an earnest and sincere knowledge of what suffering truly is. Let the following verses speak to your heart:

He Giveth More Grace

He giveth more grace as our burdens grow greater,
He sendeth more strength as our labors increase;
To added afflictions He addeth His mercy,
To multiplied trials He multiplies peace.

When we have exhausted our store of endurance,
When our strength has failed ere the day is half done,
When we reach the end of our hoarded resources
Our Father’s full giving is only begun.

Fear not that thy need shall exceed His provision,
Our God ever yearns His resources to share;
Lean hard on the arm everlasting, availing;
The Father both thee and thy load will upbear.

His love has no limits, His grace has no measure,
His power no boundary known unto men;
For out of His infinite riches in Jesus
He giveth, and giveth, and giveth again.