Civilla was a schoolteacher married to minister Walter Stillman Martin. Walter taught for a time at Atlantic Christian College in Wilson, North Carolina, while also leading revival meetings. In 1904, the Martins were at the Practical Bible Training School in Lestershire, New York, where Walter was helping the principal put together a song book. One Sunday Walter was scheduled to preach in a church some distance away, but Civilla was not feeling well and could not go. Walter thought about cancelling his preaching, but their nine–year–old son said, ‘Don’t you think God will take care of her?’ So, Walter went and preached as scheduled. When he came home, he found Civilla had written a poem about what their son had said. Walter then sat down to the organ and composed the music to this comforting hymn:
Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
God will take care of you;
Beneath His wings of love abide,
God will take care of you.
Refrain: God will take care of you,
Through every day, o’er all the way;
He will take care of you,
God will take care of you.
Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
God will take care of you;
When dangers fierce your path assail,
God will take care of you. …
No matter what may be the test,
God will take care of you;
Lean, weary one, upon His breast,
God will take care of you.
Some months later, in the spring of 1905, Civilla and Walter were in Elmira, New York and developed a deep friendship with a Mr and Mrs Doolittle. Mr Doolittle was a cripple confined to a wheelchair, and Mrs Doolittle had been bedridden for close to twenty years. Faced with such afflictions, they were happy Christians who inspired and comforted all who knew them. One day Walter asked them the secret of their bright outlook, and Mrs Doolittle replied, ‘His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me’. Civilla and Walter were both moved by this simple yet profound faith, and Mrs Doolittle’s words became the basis of Civilla writing that song with the constant refrain, ‘His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me’.
Cast your burden on the Lord, and he will sustain you; he will never permit the righteous to be moved.
~ Psalm 55:22 ~
This extract is from Her–Story: 366 Devotions from 21 Centuries of the Christian Church