Sue and I chose "We rest on Thee our shield and our defender" for our valedictory service before leaving for Guinea-Bissau in 1975. I was mainly influenced by its association with the five American missionaries – Peter Fleming (27) Jim Elliot (28) Ed McCully (28) Roger Youderian (31) and Nate Saint (32) – who were martyred by the Auca Indians in Ecuador in 1956. It also has a very stirring tune: "Finlandia". However, at the time I paid little attention to the words, which are stunningly beautiful and reveal the author as one with the most profound faith and a deep, deep love for Jesus. I wondered if he or she might have been a robust Jim Elliot or a Mary Slessor themselves. Not so.

Edith Cherry was born in 1872. At sixteen months she contracted poliomyelitis. By the age of 12 she had suffered two strokes and at the age of 25 a third stroke proved fatal. During her short life she wrote many beautiful hymns. They filled two volumes: "The Master's Touch" and "The Master's Treasures".

It was written of her: "How unlikely it seemed that this simple little cripple girl, moving through the streets with her indispensable crutches, could have such a choice gift of song! ("We go not forth alone against the foe; strong in Thy strength, safe in Thy keeping tender.") Praise heartened her, but never made her proud. Her songs were 'unpremeditated art', whether she sang under dark clouds or soared above them. Of these songs she once said, 'They were given to me just ready, and all I had to do was write them down'".

"She spent much time in her neighbourhood giving practical help to those in need. To her quiet, humble soul no duty or service for the Master, however small, seemed trivial. The light of His love made all duty light and cheerful".

"She always looked so youthful; so childlike. She was extremely bright and even joyous, with something of the pure abandon of a happy child that you associated her naturally with flowers and sunshine and music. The death of her only sister fifteen months her junior occurred when she was about six. This made a deep impression on her sensitive heart. Happily, no gloomy thoughts were permitted to associate with this event, and she often wondered 'how they would meet each other in the bright heavenly home'. She loved her Saviour as a little child. Most of her poems were written before she was 15 years old".

"She was a bright winsome girl with a spirit deeply taught in the truths of God. Sweet and gentle in disposition, but frail in body, yet that did not sadden her life. It scarcely handicapped it. It seemed rather to thin the casement through which the light of heaven shone into her spirit so clearly as to almost make her eternal home more real than her earthly one. She was a merry lover of fun and frolic, happy and glad as a summer morning, but singularly gifted with the power of entering into the sorrows of others to soothe and to sympathise".

On her death bed she said: "I think I am going mother, and I am so glad. I've been hungry to go for some while – and you won't be long. You know you always wanted me to be home first, and so did I. You will come soon". When we are going through a really difficult time, may young Edith's example inspire us.