Sunshine in My Soul

There is sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky,
For Jesus is my Light.

Chorus
O there’s sunshine, blessèd sunshine,
When the peaceful, happy moments roll;
When Jesus shows His smiling face,
There is sunshine in the soul.

There is music in my soul today,
A carol to my King,
And Jesus, listening, can hear
The songs I cannot sing.

There is springtime in my soul today,
For, when the Lord is near,
The dove of peace sings in my heart,
The flowers of grace appear.

There is gladness in my soul today,
And hope and praise and love,
For blessings which He gives me now,
For joys “laid up” above.

This week’s hymn is one written by a well known hymn writer – Eliza Hewitt.  Mrs. Hewitt is probably most famous for songs like “Victory in Jesus” and “More about Jesus” and “My Faith has found a resting place.”  Although I am familiar with Mrs. Hewitt’s work, I was not familiar with this particular song.  Here’s a link to the song as sung by the Chuck Wagon Gang.

I want to share with you two interesting things about this song – one about how I came across this song, and then the circumstances surrounding when this song was written by Mrs. Hewitt.

Less than two weeks ago, I was contacted by someone who had “accidentally” found my “Hymn of the Week” website.  I say “accidentally” because I don’t believe in accidents – I believe in Providence.  Anyway, this person had found my website when he was searching at Google for the words of a song that were brought to his memory.  The hymn was “Such Love” and when he searched on Google, he came across my commentary on that song at my website.  He subsequently emailed me, and he has really encouraged me with his kind words.  This Christian brother had found my website while dealing with the after effects of a spinal cord injury.  We have traded several emails over the last couple of weeks, and in one of those emails, he mentioned today’s hymn “Sunshine in my soul” as one that I might want to research the history/background on.  I don’t know if he was familiar with the song or not, but he told me that some missionary friends of his in Uruguay had sung this song in their worship service recently, and he recommended it for a future “Hymn of the week.”

Well, I always like to do a little research on new hymns and thought it was one worth looking into.  So let me share the story of “Sunshine in my soul.”  Eliza Hewitt was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the mid 1800’s.  She was a teacher until she suffered a spinal cord injury which had her in a cast for 6 months.  Although she never completely recovered from this injury, she was able to take a walk in the park one day after this extended period of time in a cast.  The joy she felt after being able to simply walk in the park inspired her to write “Sunshine in my soul.”

I don’t know about you, but I don’t believe these incidences were co-incidences.  I don’t believe that this gentlemen accidently thought of an old song out of the blue one day.  I believe the Holy Spirit brought the words of “Such Love” to his memory.  When is the last time you heard “Such Love” sang in a church or played on the radio?  I don’t believe my website pulled up accidently when he was looking for “Such Love.”  I don’t pay for Google advertising so it had to be God’s Providence that my site was one he pulled up that day and that it was one he chose to click on.  I don’t believe he met the missionaries in Uruguay by accident.  I don’t believe that the church in Uruguay accidentally chose to sing “Sunshine in my soul” as one of their congregational worship songs.

I also don’t believe that it was surprise to God that Eliza Hewitt and this gentleman both suffered a spinal cord injury.  He knew about both of their situations.  He was not ignorant of their pain.  I don’t believe that Eliza Hewitt thought of the words of “Sunshine in my soul” out of her own wisdom.  I believe she was inspired.  I believe the Lord used her difficult situation to inspire her to write a beautiful song that might minister to people of her day.  And I also believe the Lord was able to take her story and her testimony, and minister to someone over 100 years later through the internet and email.  My God is big enough to orchestrate these “co-incidences” just to show much He loves and cares for each one of us.  I really am amazed at how awesome God is and how much He desires to show us, in both big and little ways, how much He cares for us.

Now to some comments on the lyrics:

• “And Jesus, listening, can hear the songs I cannot sing” – I have a mental picture of Mrs. Hewitt suffering for the 6 months after her injury.  Wondering “Will I walk again?  Will the pain ever go away?”  I wonder how many “song-less” nights she had during this difficult situation.  When she writes “songs I cannot sing,” I wondered if those are songs that she knows that she is unable to sing.  Happy songs and joyous songs that she knows she should sing, but could not because of her circumstances and the burden she had carried.  Or were there songs she could not sing because she had physical limitations?  Were there songs in her heart that only Jesus, with His listening ear, could hear?  I tend to think it is the later.  That during these times of pain and uncertainty, that the Lord showed up in a real and mighty way and that although she may not have been able to vocalize a song, she was singing in her heart.

• “Springtime in my soul today…the flowers of grace appear” – In our part of the country, we have had an extremely mild winter.  So much so that I have seen daffodils blooming, daylilies poking through the mulch, and redbud trees with their pink blossoms blooming.  After enduring the cold winter and watching the grey, lifeless trees, it is exciting to see signs of new life coming.  I love the springtime.  Sometimes in our spiritual lives, we also go through winter seasons.  Mrs. Hewitt endured a long winter season because of an injury to her body.  But she was able to see the “flowers of grace” appearing.  She was able to see God’s grace in simple things like walking through the park.  I pray that we too can pause and take notice of God’s “flowers of grace.”  They are appearing around us.  It’s springtime.

This hymn and the circumstances surrounding it has put a little “sunshine in my soul,” and I hope it has yours too.  It has encouraged me that I too can face trials and tribulations and still sing praise to God.  It has challenged me to sing songs to Him for the simple blessings of life like walking in the park.  And these “co-incidences” have reminded me that the Lord loves us with “Such Love,” and will do unique, creative, simple, and even strange things to show us how much we mean to Him.  I pray today that no matter the weather outside and no matter what your circumstances may be, that you have sunshine in your soul.