Last week, we had a look into the life of Charlotte Elliott, who became an invalid at age 30 and later penned the song “Just As I Am.” She also wrote another hymn we sing often at Mars Hill called “My God, My Father.”

The hymn resounds with a continual prayer at the end of each verse: Thy will be done. This is the same prayer the Jesus prayed to the Father in the garden before going to the cross. In the garden, Jesus surely knew the weight of the cross as he sweated blood and prayed for another way out. But ultimately, he trusted in what plan the God the Father had for him saying, “Not my will, but yours be done.”

How can you submit to God’s will for your life?

My God and Father, while I stray // Far from my home in life’s rough way // Oh teach me from my heart to say // “Thy will be done!”

Though dark my path and sad my lot // Let me be still and murmur not // Or breathe the prayer divinely taught // “Thy will be done!”

If thou should call me to resign // What most I prize never was mine // I only yield thee what was thine // “Thy will be done!”

If but my fainting heart be blessed // With the Holy Spirit for its guest // My God, to thee I leave the rest // “Thy will be done!”

Renew my will from day to day // Blend it with thine and take away // All now that makes it hard to say // “Thy will be done!”

Then when on earth I breathe no more // The prayer oft mixed with tears before // I’ll sing upon that joyful shore // “Thy will be done!”