“That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ. In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were scaled with that holy Spirit of promise” (Ephesians I: 12-13 ).
‘”Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus,” was written by a most remarkable woman, Louisa M. R. Stead, out or one or her darkest hours-the tragic drowning of her husband.
Louisa Stead was born about 1850, at Dover, England. As a youngster she felt the call of God upon her life for missionary service. She arrived in America in 1871, and she lived for a time in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1875, Louisa married a Mr. Stead, and to this union was born a daughter, Lily. When the child was four years of age, the family decided one day to enjoy the sunny beach at Long Island Sound, New York. While eating their picnic lunch, they suddenly heard cries of help and spotted a drowning boy in the sea. Mr. Stead charged into the water. As often happens, however, the struggling boy pulled his rescuer under the water with him, and both drowned before the terrified eyes of wife and daughter. Out of her “why?” struggle with God during the ensuing days flowed these meaningful words from the soul of Louisa Stead:
‘Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus, just to take Him at His Word; Just to rest upon His promise; just to know, “Thus saith the Lord. ”
A short time later, Mrs. Stead and her daughter left for South Africa, where Louisa worked diligently as a missionary in the Cape Colony for the next fifteen years. Here she married Robert Wodehouse, a native of South Africa. In 1895, Louisa’s failing health made it necessary for the family to return to America for her recuperation, during which time Mr. Wodehouse pastored a local Methodist church. By 1900, Louisa’s health had improved sufficiently for the family to return once more to the missionary station at Umtali, in Southern Rhodesia. Something of her same life-long trust in God can be learned from a communique Louisa sent back shortly after her arrival:
“In connection with this whole mission there are glorious possibilities, but one cannot, in the face of the peculiar difficulties, help say, ‘Who is sufficient for these things!’ But with simple confidence and trust, we may and do say, ‘Our sufficiency is of God.'”
After ten years of further service, ill health again forced Louisa to retire. Her daughter, Lily, who had become Mrs. D. A. Carson, continued to serve for many additional years in the mission field of Southern Rhodesia. After several years of prolonged illness, Louisa Stead Wodehouse died on January 18, 1917, at her home in Penkridge, near the Mutambara Mission, about fifty miles from Umtali. After her death, a fellow missionary wrote concerning the continued use of “Tis So Sweet to Trust in Jesus”:
“We miss her very much, but her influence goes on as our five thousand native Christians continually sing this hymn in their native language.”