Description
Throughout the centuries since Jesus returned to heaven, His church has experienced an endless list of trials and difficulties. In making the point that the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic are not really all that unprecedented, Michael Riley has written, “There have been—and continue to be—much harder experiences for Christians than anything we’ve seen yet. Those Christians thought and wrote about their circumstances, and we should seek their wisdom.” Indeed, some of God’s people have turned to writing hymns to express their faith in God despite their circumstances and to point us fellow-travelers to the hope they found.
In this book are eighteen such stories, men and women of poetic gifts and strong faith who found their faith shaken—yet stood firm. Their lives and their words reach across the centuries to those of us fumbling through the uncertainty of our lives and show us “the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (2 Cor 4:4). Or, as poet Ray Palmer put it,
May Thy rich grace impart
strength to my fainting heart.
My zeal inspire!
James D. Anderson has been involved in bivocational ministry for nearly 20 years, having served at various times as a children’s choir director, executive director of a non-profit, a church minister of music, and an assistant pastor of a church plant.
