Sunshine In My Soul
There is sunshine in my soul today, More glorious and bright Than glows in any earthly sky, For Jesus is my light.
FEATUREDDEVOTIONS
Sunshine In My Soul
Eliza was born in 1851 and was a dedicated student in school. As class valedictorian, she was determined to teach others and she took a job as a teacher. In the course of her career, an angry student struck her across her back with his slate. Her injuries were so severe that she was hospitalized and placed in a body cast. He spinal injuries forced her to bed. She remained bedridden for an extended time.
She fought the temptation to become bitter and applied herself to studying literature. To occupy herself further, and to maintain her contribution to her church, she began to write poetry. As it turned out, she was quite good at it. Some of her hymns were good enough to be published.
As she gradually recovered from her spinal injuries, the day came for her to finally be able to go outdoors. She was taken to a nearby park where she basked in the joy of having the sun shine down on her again. When she got home, her joyous energy poured out of her heart and onto her paper.
How could she express her joy at being outside in the sunshine again? How could she put into words what that sunshine had meant to her soul? She began to write:
There is sunshine in my soul today,
More glorious and bright
Than glows in any earthly sky,
For Jesus is my light.
You know the song by now. The words are the outpouring of the joy of a woman who had just felt sunshine again after such a long absence from it that she had to tell the world about it.
Eliza Hewitt produced many more hymns and eventually returned to her teaching career but you never knew why she was so happy about that sunshine, did you? The lyrics are posted
