“Amazing Grace” lyrics originated as the poem John Newton most likely wrote in Kineton, England, around Christmas 1772. Get to know Newton’s past, for it helps to understand his truly remarkable life.
The epitaph on John Newton’s gravestone says:

JOHN NEWTON, Clerk [preacher]
Once an infidel and libertine
A servant of slaves in Africa,
Was, by the rich mercy
of our Lord and Saviour
JESUS CHRIST,
restored, pardoned and
appointed to preach
the Gospel which he had
long laboured to destroy.
He ministered,
Near sixteen years in Olney, in Bucks,
And twenty eight years in this Church.

Written by John Newton, it is engraved on a marble plaque in St Mary, Woolnoth, UK.

Listening to “Amazing Grace” has inspired me to write my little pray:

God is here, in me.
I witness his love everyday
An amazing grace that is forever.
My song has not far to travel
God always waits for me
In my longing heart.