O Lord, Who Gave Thy Life for Me
#1041 Hymns—For Home and ChurchLyrics
The Story Behind “O Lord, Who Gave Thy Life for Me”
Going blind from multiple sclerosis, Alice Warner Johnson pled with the Lord for time to serve — and was inspired instead to write a hymn of surrender.
The Woman Who Could Do Everything
Alice Warner Johnson was the eldest of ten children from Provo, Utah, and formidably gifted: she taught herself to read at three, taught herself piano, played cello, sang with BYU's University Singers, served a mission to Taiwan, earned an economics degree, and built a career as a Boston business executive who co-founded a consulting firm.
Two months after her second daughter's birth, she suddenly went blind. The diagnosis was an advanced, progressive form of multiple sclerosis. The disease advanced relentlessly — episodes of blindness and numbness, capacities falling away one by one, until she was bedbound.
Thy Will Be Done, Set to Music
As she declined, Johnson pled with the Lord for more time to serve Him and her family. The answer that came was not the healing she asked for; it was, in the words of the Church's hymn resource, learning 'to trust Him and surrender her will to His' — and out of that surrender, she was inspired to write this hymn in 2000, a quiet sacrament prayer offering the only sacrifice left to her: a broken heart and a contrite spirit.
Her daughter remembered 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.' Her husband said it plainly: 'As her heart was breaking over the gradual, painful loss of her once-brilliant capacities, her love for her Savior deepened.'
Published Twice
The hymn appeared in the Ensign in 2002, then waited. Johnson died in 2019 at 55, her faith — her daughter said — never wavering. Six years later, on June 12, 2025, her hymn was released as #1041 in Hymns—For Home and Church.
Her daughter called its inclusion 'the perfect way to honor her legacy' — a hymn about yoking yourself to Christ, written by a woman who learned what His yoke weighs, and found it easy after all.
Did You Know?
- Alice Warner Johnson taught herself to read at age three, and later taught herself piano.
- She wrote the hymn while progressively losing her sight and mobility to multiple sclerosis — rewriting at the keyboard for hours as the disease advanced.
- The hymn was first published in the Ensign in 2002, twenty-three years before it entered the hymnbook.
- She was a missionary to Taiwan, a Boston business executive, and a mother of four.
- She died in 2019 — her hymn's canonization in 2025 became her family's memorial to her.
Scripture Connections
- Matthew 11:28–30 — 'Take my yoke upon you... my yoke is easy, and my burden is light' — the surrender the hymn sings.
- 3 Nephi 9:20 — The sacrifice the Lord now asks: 'a broken heart and a contrite spirit' — all she had left, and enough.
- Doctrine and Covenants 59:8 — 'Offer a sacrifice unto the Lord thy God... even that of a broken heart and a contrite spirit.'
Talk About It
Questions to spark a conversation with your family or Primary class:
- Alice asked for more time to serve; the answer was a hymn instead. Have you ever received a different answer than you prayed for — and later seen why?
- What does it mean to offer God 'a broken heart and a contrite spirit'? Why is that the sacrifice He asks for?
- She kept creating even as her abilities failed. What would you want to give the world while you can?
- How can the sacrament be a place to hand the Savior the things we cannot fix?
Teaching Resources
Categories
Attribution
Music by: Alice Warner Johnson, 2000 | MIRA
Text by: and music: Alice Warner Johnson, 2000 | MIRA
Audio files from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints