He Giveth More Grace - Annie Johnson Flint

Annie Johnson Flint's poems contain some of the sweetest expressions of comfort and trust in hymnody, bearing witness to the simple faith she lived. Annie Johnson was born December 24^th, 1866, in Vineland, New Jersey. She and her little sister were orphaned while young and were adopted by a kind Christian couple. Mr. and Mrs. Flint warmly embraced the girls, and together they made up a godly, happy home. Leaving childhood behind, Annie found her passion in teaching. Her first year passed without incident, but she began to develop arthritis in her second year. Doctors could not stop the progression, and soon she could barely walk. Next, her adoptive parents died, and Annie and her sister were again alone in the world. Heartbroken, Annie began to write words of comfort from the depths of her sorrow. Slowly and painfully, line by line, her gnarled hands penned each syllable as a labour of love.

Octavius Winslow said, "David's pen never wrote sweeter than when dipped in the ink of affliction." We sense this sweetness as we repeatedly turn to certain Psalms for consolation. The same is true of many beloved hymn writers – those who most need God's comfort are often the best suited to give it.

Missionary Darlene Deibler Rose illustrates the sustaining power of such comfort in her book "Evidence Not Seen." The following events occurred when she was separated forever from her husband and unjustly imprisoned in a Japanese POW camp.

"I never shed a tear before or during the hearings. But when the guard had returned me to my cell, and the sound of his footsteps had vanished–when I was certain that no one could hear me– I wept buckets of tears. In desperation I poured out my heart to the Lord . . . . When there were no more tears to cry, I would hear Him whisper, 'But my child, my grace is sufficient for thee. Not was or will be but is sufficient.' Oh, the eternal, ever present, undiminished supply of God's glorious grace!"

"Just two weeks before I was brought to this prison, the Lord had laid it on my heart to memorize a poem by Annie Johnson Flint. Now I knew why. After drying the tears from my face and mopping the tears from the floor with my skirt, I would sit up and sing,

'He giveth more grace when the burdens grow greater.

He sendeth more strength when the labors increase.

To added affliction, He addeth His mercy,

To multiplied trials, His multiplied peace."

God's consolation to Annie Flint's heart lost no strength as she shared it, but oh, the joy that came with the telling! Although few may be gifted hymn writers, all Christians may console others even from the place of their deepest pain. II Corinthians 1:4 tells us:

 Who {God} comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Have you found his grace sufficient in a trial? Have you leaned on his strength and found it sure? Have you trusted his provision and were sustained? Have you embraced his promises and found them true? If so, you, too, have a story to tell. May we each faithfully share the consolation so liberally bestowed on us by the God of all comfort.

 

 

 

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