Charlotte Elliott was the grand­daugh­ter of Hen­ry Venn, min­is­ter at Hud­ders­field, and au­thor of The Com­plete Du­ty of a Man, and friend and com­pan­ion of John Wes­ley. Char­lotte be­came an in­val­id around age 30, and re­mained so the rest of her life. About her phys­i­cal con­di­tion, El­li­ott wrote: “My Hea­ven­ly Fa­ther knows, and He alone, what it is, day af­ter day, and hour af­ter hour, to fight against bo­di­ly feel­ings of al­most over­pow­er­ing weak­ness and lang­uor and ex­haust­ion, to re­solve, as He en­a­bles me to do, not to yield to the sloth­ful­ness, the de­press­ion, the ir­ri­ta­bil­i­ty, such as a bo­dy caus­es me to long to in­dulge, but to rise ev­ery morn­ing de­term­ined on tak­ing this for my mot­to, If any man will come af­ter me, let him de­ny him­self, take up his cross dai­ly, and fol­low me”¹. The below is included in “The In­va­lid’s Hymn Book”, and she also wrote the more well known hymn “Just As I Am”.

God of pity! God of love!
Send me comfort from above
Let not anxious thoughts perplex
Harrowing fears my spirit vex
Let me trust thee, and be still
Waiting patiently Thy will.

Though to weak short-sighted man
All uncertain seems each plan
Each event Thy will ordains
Fixed immutably remains
Not one link in life’s long chain
Can be lost, or wrought in vain.

All that chain, through bygone years
Woven in links of love appears
Not one storm of vengeful wrath
E’er has swept across my path
Why should fear o’er faith prevail?
Thy sure mercies cannot fail.

What are distance, time, or place
To that God who fills all space?
What are sea or land to Him?
Can the eye Omniscient dim?
Those we love, whate’er betide
Does that eye o’er them preside

Clinging to Thy strengthening arm
Thou wilt keep me safe from harm;
Thou wilt grant the hope that cheers
Will prove better than my fears;
Bid my sad misgivings cease
Guide me to my home in peace.

¹hymnbook.igracemusic.com/people/charlotte-elliott