Carolina Sandell Berg: Songs out of Tragedy - DAY BY DAY
Psalm 46 declares, "God is my refuge, an ever present
help in time of trouble."
There was once a young Swedish woman who, like the Psalmist, learned early in life
to trust in the Lord's strength each day to help her overcome her troubles and trials.
Her name was Carolina
Sandell Berg.
Born October 3, l832, she grew up to become Sweden's most
celebrated author of Gospel hymns, and wrote so many that she is often called "the Fanny Crosby of
Sweden."*
Like many Christians, Carolina learned that when pain and
tragedy strike, God may use that experience to deepen our faith.
When she was 26, Carolina -or Lina
(pronounced Lie-nah) as she liked to be called- experienced a tragedy which profoundly affected the course
of her life. She was with her father, a Lutheran pastor, crossing a Swedish lake. Suddenly the ship lurched,
and before her eyes, her father was thrown overboard and drowned.
Lina had written hymns before, but
now she poured out her broken heart in an endless stream of beautiful songs. Her hymns mightily
influenced the revival that swept across Scandanavia after l850.
The words of Lina Berg's hymns were all the more popular
because of the simple, beautiful melodies written for them, especially those of Oscar Ahnfelt who played his
guitar and sang her hymns throughout Scandanavia. Lina Berg once said that Ahnfeld sang her songs
"into the hearts of the people." Even Jenny Lind, the world-famous concert vocalist, visited
factories and sang Lina's beautiful hymns.
In Matthew l2:34, Jesus said: "Out of the abundance of the
heart, the mouth speaketh." Lina Sandell Berg's voice spoke more than 650 hymns from a heart filled
abundantly with love for her Saviour.
In one of them, "Day by Day," she had this to say:
"Day by day and with each passing moment,
Strength I find to meet my trials here;
Trusting in my Father's wise bestowment,
I've no cause for worry or for fear."
-----------
* Fanny Crosby was a blind American hymnwriter who wrote the
equivalent of seventeen books of hymns.
Bibliography:
1. Adapted from an earlier Christian History Institute story
by Diana Severance, Ph. D.
2.
"Karolina Wilhelmina Sandell-Berg." http://www.cyberhymnal.org
No comments:
Post a Comment