A couple of years after Jonas Sandell's death, Lina's mother also died. Then there was nothing that kept her in Fröderyd any longer.

 

Lina moved to Stockholm when she got a position there with the Swedish Evangelical Mission. Since she didn't want her own household she arranged to board and lodge with a boarding-house.

Her work came to consist of author activities, translations and edits. It suited Lina perfectly. She was proficient in both English, German and French.

In the winter of 1862-63, Lina became so ill in her lungs that she thought the end was near. She needed a long time to regain her strength and spent most of the time with her sister Mathilda. When Lina returned to Stockholm and worked again after Whit-sun in 1864, she got fever and spit blood. The doctor prescribed rest.

 

Lina returned to Mathilda and her family. Despite the illness, she could not leave the pen, but published the first booklet of the poem collection "On the way home" at Hall's publishing house in Jönköping. The second booklet was published in 1865.

 

Because there were so few books for children, she wrote a collection of children's stories entitled "Little Esther's Sunday Book", It was published by Norman's publisher. It was this publisher who at that time published the  Swedish Evangelical Mission's books and writings. The same year also came "Mission songs for children".

 

For Christmas 1865 she released the first "Cross Flower". It was a Christian calendar with a Bible word for every day, poems, biographies of famous people and articles about the current Christian work in Sweden and other countries. She would publish it annually for 37 years! 

 

In the first issue of the Cross Flower, Lina had included the hymn "Thy holy wings". It is well known to many people even today.

 

1. Thy holy wings, O Savior,
spread gently over me,
and let me rest securely
through good and bad in thee.
Oh, be my strength and portion,
my rock and hiding place,
and let me know every moment
lived within your grace.

2. Oh, let me nestle near you,
within your downy breast
where I will find sweet comfort
and peace within your nest.
Oh, close your wings around me
and keep me safe there.
for I am but a newborn
and need your tender care.

3. Oh, wash me in the water
of Noah's cleansing flood.
Give me a willing spirit,
that is both clean and good.
Oh, take into your keeping
your children great and small,
and while we sweetly slumber,
enfold us one and all ”.

Tr. Ernest Edwin  Ryden

Hymnary.org

 

Lina often stated throughout her writing career that she received her songs from God. She said, "The Lord gives me so direct every song that I can't write a line by myself. I'm just the pen." Over 2,000 poems have her signature L.S. and many of them are well-known songs and hymns. In addition, she published books and calendars.

 

In this picture we see that the windows of the house are lit. Maybe the family has evening prayers in there and prays with the song's words "Oh, take into your keeping your children great and small, and while we sweetly slumber, enfold us one and all".
The sun is a picture of God. The Psalter in the Bible says that God is sun and shield. The cloud has a wing shape to link to the text "Thy holy wings".