Two facts about Alice Warner Johnson were as important as anything else about her time on earth.
One, she loved The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and her family above all else. And two, she devoted her life — even after it became nearly impossible to carry on — to help others through their trials, explained her obituary in 2019 after she died at age 55.
Johnson is the author and composer of “O Lord, Who Gave Thy Life for Me,” which was included in the latest batch of new hymns for “Hymns — For Home and Church.”
She wrote the hymn while suffering from a progressive form of multiple sclerosis, which came with episodes of blindness and numbness and led to increasing, then total incapacity.
The About the Hymns section of gospel library says this for this hymn:
“Devastated as she declined, Sister Johnson pled with the Lord for more time to serve Him and her family. While learning to trust Him and surrender her will to His, she was inspired to write ‘O Lord, Who Gave Thy Life for Me.’”
Her daughter, Katherine Pearse, remembers going into her mother’s office in the basement and watching her “hunched over her keyboard, meticulously working on the melodies and chords. … She spent hours writing and rewriting that beautiful hymn as her disease worsened and became more severe.”
The hymn speaks of humbly going to the Lord and offering a sacrifice of a contrite soul and broken heart. The second verse talks about bearing His yoke. In the end, the hymn says, “Now bind my grateful heart to Thine.”
Scripture references in the new hymnbook for this hymn are Doctrine and Covenants 59:8 and Matthew 11:28–30, which include the Lord’s teachings on these themes.
Pearse said even in the worst moments, her mother remained positive and continued to share and serve however she could.
“Most importantly her faith never wavered,” Pearse told the Church News. “She gave thanks to God constantly, she looked to Christ as her support, and she lived by the Spirit in hopes that she could find ways to reach out to others in need.”
‘The perfect way to honor her legacy’
Johnson grew up in Provo, Utah, as the oldest of 10 siblings. She showed remarkable gifts from a young age, including learning to read by the age of 3 and teaching herself piano. She performed in many musicals, wrote stories, sang in University Singers at Brigham Young University and served a full-time mission to Taiwan.
After college, she had a prestigious job in Boston, Massachusetts, and always wanted to become a wife and mother. After moving back to Utah in her 30s to help her dad start a new company, a mutual friend set her up with Paul Johnson and they were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple in 1996.
Two months after her second daughter, Pearse, was born, Johnson woke up in the morning to sudden blindness. She learned that she had an advanced form of multiple sclerosis.
“This devastating blow did not stop my mom,” Pearse said. Johnson continued pursuing and sharing her musical and writing talents from her home in Lindon, Utah. Several of her hymns won Church music contests at this time. Later, moving to Eagle, Idaho, Johnson directed ward choirs and made it a joy for people to participate, Pearse said.
Despite the danger that the disease would progress more rapidly with more children, the Johnsons — after much deliberation, prayer and priesthood blessings — had two more children.
Soon Johnson was unable to walk or drive. Pearse said she continued to write books and hymns from her bed, and would call people to say she was thinking about them and offer ways to help them. Relief Society sisters who went to visit her would leave saying they felt served by her instead.
After five years of being completely bed bound, Johnson passed away. Her funeral included a choir with people from her childhood and her wards in Boston, Lindon and Eagle singing in her honor.
“Her life was filled with loving friends and family, incredible experiences, and so much music,” Pearse said.
While Johnson received many awards and accolades throughout her life, she would say her crowning jewel was being a mother to her four children. While all of them are also musical, they strive to honor her by remembering her words — “kindness is the most important thing.”
“Her hymn being included in the hymnbook is the perfect way to honor her legacy,” Pearse said. “The lyrics follow her story of terrible loss, but giving it over to the Lord. She truly did lay her burdens at His feet, trust His will, and even feel profound gratitude for her many blessings.”
1. O Lord, who gave Thy life for me,
I come now in humility
And here my sacrifice impart:
A contrite soul, a broken heart.
Oh, may Thy love in mercy shine
And bind my sorrowing heart to Thine.
2. My burden at Thy feet I lay—
My pride, my hurt, each willful way,
The weight of all my sin and care—
And in its place Thy yoke I’ll bear.
Oh, may Thy love my soul refine
And bind my trusting heart to Thine.
3. My heart is full of love for Thee,
Because I know Thou first loved me.
Now by that love I’ll seek to live;
Like Thee, I freely would forgive.
Oh, may Thy love my life define
And bind my willing heart to Thine.
4. And as I strive to thus endure
With cleaner hands and heart more pure,
In all around I see Thy face
And feel the bounties of Thy grace.
O Savior, may Thy love divine
Now bind my grateful heart to Thine.
Learn more about all the new hymns in the “About the Hymns” resource in of Gospel Library.