With storms and changes bearing down on so many, inwardly as well as outwardly, Carol Sampson’s rendering of this beautiful hymn is a gift we can feast upon and take to heart. The words are a powerful reminder that the Lord knows both what we are going through and where He is taking us, as He calls us to abide in heavenly love as He walks with us, and we walk with Him.
Anna Laetitia Waring, a nineteenth century Welsh Anglican poet, was a prolific hymn writer, and this is her best known of all. So far from being written in an ivory tower, Anna did sterling work with the Discharged Prisoners Aid Society, frequently visiting Bristol’s far from salubrious Bridewell and Horfield prisons in a bid to raise up jewels for Christ.
In heavenly love abiding
No change my heart shall fear;
And safe in such confiding
for nothing changes here.
The storm may roar without me;
My heart may low be laid;
But God is round about me
And can I be dismayed?
Wherever He may guide me,
No one shall turn me back;
My Shepherd is beside me,
And nothing shall I lack.
His wisdom ever waken
His sight is never dim;
He knows the way He's taking,
and I will walk with Him.
In heavenly love
In heavenly love I abide;
In heavenly love
In His heavenly love I abide
Forever.
Green pastures are before me
Which yet I have not seen.
Bright skies will soon be over me
Where darkest clouds have been.
My hope I cannot measure;
My path to life is free;
My Saviour has my treasure
And he will walk with me.
In heavenly love
In heavenly love I abide
In heavenly love
In His heavenly love I abide
Forever,
Forever,
Forever.
Copyright Carol Sampson / Ruach Breath of Life Ministries 2018
Singer and composer Carol Sampson, taken from her album 'Always Near'
https://www.carolleesampson.co.uk/
