07/27/2026
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
‘Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures.
When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we'd first begun.
—Hymn by John Newton, 1779 (First four verses, fifth verse was added in 1790, author unknown)
John Newton was born in London in 1725. His father was a sea captain. His mother, a devout Christian woman, recognizing her terminal illness, diligently taught her son the Bible from a young age. When Newton was seven, his mother passed away, and he subsequently became a cabin boy on a sailing vessel. His maritime experiences were both perilous and exhilarating. He was kidnapped and forced to join the crew of a Man-of-War ship. There he was cruelly treated, being flogged and abused. After this experience, he joined the crew of a slave ship and eventually became a captain. During all of this, John drifted far from his mother's God and the Bible. He later wrote, “I often saw the necessity of being a Christian as a means of escaping hell, but I loved sin and was unwilling to forsake it.”
One day, while Newton was at sea, a terrible storm arose. Fearing he wouldn't survive, he earnestly cried out to God for help, even though he worried that he was too sinful for God to save. “On that day—March 10, 1748,” he wrote later, “the Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters.”
It took a few more years to get his life sorted out, but Newton eventually quit maritime life and began preparing for the ministry. He was ordained in the Church of England at the age of thirty-nine and served a church in Olney. He achieved renown as a preacher and began collaborating with poet William Cowper on hymn writing.
“Amazing Grace!” was written for a service on New Year’s Day, 1773, accompanying a message on 1 Chronicles 17. John Newton lived into his eighties, faithfully teaching, preaching, and writing. Near the end of his earthly life he commented, “My memory is nearly gone, but I remember two things: that I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Savior.”
Judy Collins, American singer-songwriter and musician whose recording in the late 1960s helped popularize the hymn, said she believes the song is one of "hope and healing. It has a feeling about surviving terrible things. But it gives you a moment of hope. Sometimes that's all you need, isn't it?”
Hope. That is what this hymn speaks to me.
This year has felt strange and unsettled in so many ways—fires, drought, long hard days, and a sense at times that things are not as they should be. Yet even in the middle of it all, hope quietly finds its way in.
It shows up in the ordinary moments: the way the evening light filters through the clouds,
the movement of grass in the wind,
the small hand of a child reaching for mine,
the comfort of a familiar voice,
a prayer whispered on my behalf.
Grace often doesn’t arrive with fanfare. It comes gently, steadily—meeting us right where we are. Just as it did for John Newton in the middle of a storm, it meets us in ours.
“I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see.”
Because of that grace—God’s amazing grace—we are not without hope. We are not beyond reach. And we are never beyond redemption.
“I believe our hearts are all alike, destitute of every good, and prone to every evil. Like money from the same mint, they bear the same impression of total depravity. But grace makes a difference, and grace deserves the praise.”
—John Newton, LETTER TO MRS. T., 1777
“Who am I, Lord God, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”
—1 Chronicles 17:16b
He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”
—John 9:25
Author: Nicole Louden
Published July 26th, 2026
📷 July 25th, 2026
