He Again Had Made Me Whole (Praise the Lord My Thankful Soul)

This beautiful forgotten Charles Wesley hymn celebrates God’s hand of healing on both our bodies and souls. Recovering from surgery in August 2026, I found his words so fitting - so I wrote a tune of my own to go with his words.

Welcome back to another Wesley's Hidden Gem! I'm still recovering from my surgery. It's been three weeks today, and I'm taking it slow, though I am out in the studio today. I've got another week of leave before I'm back at work at the church, but today I wanted to share the song I found in the 1742 hymnal of the Wesleys.

This is the eighth one I've done in the series of forgotten or unknown Wesley hymns that I'm writing my own tunes to, because they mean something to me. This one really does mean something to me, because it's about healing after a time of sickness. It seems the song was only ever printed in this hymnal - it was never reprinted, so it truly is one of the hidden ones. For me, it's become quite precious as I've recovered from surgery, meditating on these words and singing them to the tune I've written.

The Story Behind "After Recovery from Sickness"

In the hymnal, the piece is entitled After Recovery from Sickness, and it draws on Psalm 103 - a great Psalm that begins "Bless the Lord, O my soul." A lot of hymns have been written with reference to that Psalm. It talks about how God heals all our diseases and blesses us in many ways - it's His "remember all His benefits." It's a beautiful Psalm, and a fitting one to bring into this theme of recovering from a time of illness.

Charles Wesley was a fairly sickly man himself in the 1730s, struggling with various bouts of illness. I wonder whether he wrote this poem years before and only included it in this hymnal in 1742, or whether it was something that happened that year. Who knows?

Let me walk you through the six verses and why they are meaningful to me, before I sing the tune I've written.

What Do the Lyrics of "After Recovery from Sickness" Mean?

Verse One

Praise the Lord, my thankful soul,
Him let all within me praise;
He again hath made me whole,
He hath lengthened out my days.

This is much like the words of that Psalm, Wesley is telling his own soul, preaching to his own soul: praise the Lord, my soul, be thankful, and praise Him for what He's done. What has He done? He's made me whole again and lengthened out my days. This illness could have taken me out, but He, in His mercy, has healed me and given me more days to live. For that, I praise Him and thank Him.

Verse Two

Gracious, merciful, and kind,
Him my thankful soul proclaim;
Bear His benefits in mind,
Love and bless His hallowed Name.

This verse goes on to talk about how gracious, merciful and kind God is. Considering who He is, I'm going to be thankful and proclaim His praise, bearing His benefits in mind - straight out of Psalm 103. This is the lifestyle Wesley wants to live: a thankful lifestyle, bearing the benefits of grace in mind.

Notice, too, the exalted view of God in "His hallowed Name" - it makes me think of the Lord's Prayer, "hallowed be Thy Name." It's seeing God as the wonderful, great, amazing Healer that He is.

Verse Three

Oh, how often doth He save
From the first and second death,
Snatch thee from the gaping grave,
Pluck thee from the lion's teeth!

The verse shifts a little here. This is language straight from Revelation - Wesley is saying that God so often saves him from not just physical death, but the spiritual death that comes from dying apart from God. God has snatched him again from that grave and made sure his soul is safe. These images of the gaping grave and the lion's teeth are harsh pictures of the life to come without God - awful states you end up in if you die without Him. Wesley is praising God for saving him from this - not just physical healing, but bring saved from hell and from the terrors of living without God. He's so gracious, so kind!

Verse Four

He forgives thy every sin,
Inly He thy pardon seals,
Justifies and makes thee clean;
All thy imperfections heals.

The spiritual healing continues here. Within you, He seals His grace - His pardon, His forgiveness - and forgives you every sin. He justifies and makes you clean. If you believe, you are in good standing with God based on His grace and your faith, and He has cleansed you so that He no longer holds against you the sins that qualified you for the lion's teeth and the gaping grave.

I love that last line, "all thy imperfections heals" - this is typical Wesleyan theology about the perfection available in Christ. Not complete perfection, but Christian perfection in a particular sense. When you are forgiven and cleansed, He heals you in a particular way within. Wesley is linking the physical and the spiritual healing here, thanking God not just for healing from sickness, but for the inner healing that comes through this relationship with Him.

Verse Five

God on me His blessings showers,
All His blessings from above,
Bids me taste the heavenly powers,
Crowns me with His grace and love.

The last two verses are wonderfully uplifting. This is a lovely picture of the wonder of being in relationship with God - how He blesses us and showers these blessings on us, so that we can taste them, taste and see that the Lord is good. I think of that verse in the Psalms as I read this.

Wesley realises just how blessed he is by God in every sense, and he's overcome by it. Perhaps you need that reminder today. Maybe you're feeling upset or depressed - remember that if you are in Christ, you are showered with blessings and crowned with grace and love. Taste it and see it as you put your faith in Him, and remind yourself where you stand with God!

Verse Six

As an eagle, swift and strong,
Lo, renewed I live, I rise,
Active, vigorous, and young,
Earth I spurn and cleave the skies.

This final verse is about Wesley's recovery from illness, pictured as an eagle - swift and strong. He was still young in those days! This draws again on Psalm 103, which talks about your youth being renewed like an eagle's. Having been renewed, he's going to rise, live, and spurn the things of the earth. It brings to mind that other hymn which says the things of the earth become strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace - Wesley is picturing something similar, spurning the things of the earth and cleaving to the things of the skies, the heavenly things. The New Testament often tells us not to fix our minds on earthly things, but on things above, and that's what Wesley wants to do now that he's healed and still living in this place.

Conclusion

This hymn really blessed me in my own time of healing and rest. I've read this poem quite a number of times just to lift my own spirits, and to remember God's blessings and His healing. I'm still in the process of healing myself, and I still have another week of sick leave. I'm not pushing myself too hard, but I'm ready to go back - I really am. I'm starting to itch to get back into the work I do, and when I do, I'm going to do it with His grace as my central focus.

This poem has really helped me see that, so I wrote a simple tune for it that I hope you can sing along to and enjoy.

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Let me know what you think of the words - if anything specific spoke to you, and if the tune speaks to you too. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.