My God My Father While I Stray - #418 - Elliot

 Charlotte Elliot also wrote "Just As I Am."

"My God, My Father, While I Stray"
by Charlotte Elliot, 1789-1871

1. My God, my Father, while I stray
Far from my home on life's rough way
Oh, teach me from my heart to say,
"Thy will be done."

2. Though dark my path and sad my lot,
Let me be still and murmur not
Or breathe the prayer divinely taught,
"Thy will be done."

3. What though in lonely grief I sigh
For friends beloved, no longer nigh,
Submissive still would I reply--
"Thy will be done."

4. Though Thou hast called me to resign
What most I prized, it ne'er was mine;
I have but yielded what was Thine--
"Thy will be done."

5. Should grief or sickness waste away
My life in premature decay,
My Father, still I strive to say,
"Thy will be done."

6. Let but my fainting heart be blest
With Thy sweet Spirit for its Guest;
My God, to Thee I leave the rest--
"Thy will be done."

7. Renew my will from day to day;
Blend it with Thine and take away
All that now makes it hard to say,
"Thy will be done."

8. Then, when on earth I breathe no more,
The prayer, oft mixed with tears before,
I'll sing upon a happier shore,
"Thy will be done."

Hymn #418
The Lutheran Hymnal
Text: Matt. 26:42
Author: Charlotte Elliott, 1834-1839
Composer: Johann D. Meyer, 1692
Tune: "Es ist kein Tag"