It had happened seven years earlier to this 33-year old Swedish woman (see the Swedish flag here). Death turned out to be a life-altering event for Carolina Sandell Berg, perhaps helping her treasure each day. It was probably also at least an indirect spasm that was later reflected in her song “Day by Day”. She had been nurtured by her earthly father, so she knew what intimacy felt like when she needed her heavenly Father following the tragedy that befell her in 1858. It might have taken her seven years to put it into words, but we can guess that the song was just the culmination of her years-long effort to manage this new reality. She didn’t seem to have arrived at a grand strategy in this journey when she penned some words in 1865; it was instead a daily bread type prayer that emerged as her testimony. She seems to say that healing comes with consistent hand-holding with Him who holds all life.
After spending so much time with her father, Jonas, as a child and a young woman, hardly anything could have seemed more heartbreaking to Carolina than to see him drown before her eyes. It happened as the two were on a boat ride across the Lake of Vattern toward Goteborg in south-central Sweden; the waters must have been choppy and somewhat unpredictable, causing the boat to lurch and pitch Carolina’s pastor-father into the water. What followed must have been imaginable only to those who have experienced loss in this way. And yet, Carolina apparently had learned something quite valuable from Jonas that she redeemed during this period – a connection with the other Father in her life that was more enduring. Difficulties did not leave her, as she writes about ‘trials’ and ‘pain’ (v.1), ‘tribulation’ and ‘trouble’ (v.3) that continued to visit. But, she notes that each day, indeed ‘each moment’ (v.1) was imbued with Him and the ‘strength’ (v.1) He brings. ‘Every day’ and ‘Each hour’ (v.2) were full of His abiding presence for Carolina. Could it be that these kinds of thoughts helped erase or make more dim the image of her father drowning? It certainly could be surmised that she expected the ‘promised land’ (v.3) one day to be a special place where she would see both father and Father face to face.
Carolina is often referred to as the ‘Fanny Crosby of Sweden’, though she authored only a fraction of the hymns (650) that Crosby did (at least 8,000). What makes them alike, however, is the advent of tragedy that seems to have spurred their musical spirits. Childhood blindness is often contrasted with the spiritual sight that Fanny demonstrated, in spades, as an adult; likewise, Carolina reportedly took up poetry and hymn writing, and thereby shared with others the soothing sight of Him that she had gained in the wake of the calamity that she experienced on Lake Vattern. Days were not a waste of time with either of these women, contemporaries of one another. Do you think it might be worth your time, early in this new year, to see what Carolina and Fanny might have to say to you about Him who they saw more clearly after trouble came and visited? If I’ve got problems, that doesn’t mean He’s not there. I just need the endurance to see Him the way Carolina and Fanny did.
See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982; and Then Sings My Soul, by Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.
Also see this link, showing all three verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/d/a/y/b/daybyday.htm
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