Before Grace there was Pain

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. 

One of my favorite old hymns is that of Amazing Grace. I remember singing it at youth group, Sunday morning services, and camp meetings; but my most vivid memory is at a high school youth retreat in a cabin in the woods, with hard wooden benches, hands held high, tears streaming down my face, belting it to the rafters. It has been re-made several times over the past two hundred and fifty years. The experience people feel may change, but the words and meaning never do. But do you know the story of how John Newton came to writing those wonderful words of grace and forgiveness? 

I just finished Jody Hedlund's newest novel, Newton & Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace, and let me tell you, it was inspiring and gave me a new perspective of the words Newton wrote in his famous hymn. The line, "through many dangers, toils, and snares/ I have already come" is somewhat of and understatement. Newton had been rescued from dangers more a dozen times, but his world-view was so polluted towards God, that he did not see the bigger picture. He was pleasing his lustful, human nature in hopes of finding peace; instead, he found the opposite, despair. It took falling to the bottom before he reconciled his faith in God. 

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear.
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.

It was hard to believe that a man as sinful and self-serving as John Newton could become one of the most famous hymn writers in history. His story is very much like that of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15 - a man leaving his family to fulfill what he thought would satisfy his search for purpose. It was a wonderful reminder that we are all God's children, and he has a bigger purpose for all of us, if only we seek him. The words from the second verse of Amazing Grace brings tingles to my neck as I remember the trials Hedlund writes about, and yet he could still write that after everything he feared, he could still believe in God and the amazing grace of forgiveness.

Pick up Jody Hedlund's novel, Newton & Polly: A Novel of Amazing Grace, today and travel on a journey of love, pain, loss, and peace.