Stories of Faith

New hymn was a mother’s final act of faith before she died

Paul, Alice, Annie, Katie, Sam, and Molly Johnson are pictured in 2006
Paul, Alice, Annie, Katie, Sam, and Molly Johnson are pictured in 2006. Before dying in 2019, Alice Warner Johnson wrote the hymn “O Lord, Who Gave Thy Life for Me,” which is included in the Church’s new hymnbook.
Provided by the Johnson family for the Church News

Two facts about Alice Warner Johnson were as important as anything else about her time on earth.

One, she loved The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and her family above all else. And two, she devoted her life—even after it became nearly impossible to carry on—to help others through their trials, explained her obituary in 2019 after she died at age 55.

Johnson is the author and composer of “O Lord, Who Gave Thy Life for Me,” which was included in the latest batch of new hymns for “Hymns—For Home and Church.”

She wrote the hymn while suffering from a progressive form of multiple sclerosis, which came with episodes of blindness and numbness and led to increasing, then total incapacity.

The About the Hymns section of gospel library says this for this hymn:

“Devastated as she declined, Sister Johnson pled with the Lord for more time to serve Him and her family. While learning to trust Him and surrender her will to His, she was inspired to write ‘O Lord, Who Gave Thy Life for Me.’”

Read more at the Church News.

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