Miss Fanny J. Crosby

Do you ever just break out in song? I do.  I start cleaning and all the songs I ever sang in church just start coming out. One of the great hymns that I often sing is Blessed Assurance. When I took this photo, I turned the pages quickly and found a song that  felt familiar to me. It wasn't until I began editing my photos did I realize the impact this song has had on my life. It's such a happy song to me and one that is ingrained in my heart.

Pg 103       Fanny J. Crosby

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3. Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
   Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
   Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
   Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.
   
   
   
   • Refrain:
     This is my story, this is my song,
     Praising my Savior all the day long;
     This is my story, this is my song,
     Praising my Savior all the day long.
4. Perfect submission, perfect delight,
   Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
   Angels, descending, bring from above
   Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.
5. Perfect submission, all is at rest,
   I in my Savior am happy and blest,
   Watching and waiting, looking above,
   Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.
6. Miss Fanny J. Crosby wrote over 8000 hymns. Amazingly enough, she credited her blindness as to the reason she received a higher level of education and therefore set her on the path of poetry and song writing. When I read about specific Christians in history, I am reminded that we are all here with an individualized plan but all with the same opportunity, to bring glory to the Heavenly Father.   Miss Crosby was quoted as having said that if she could request one thing on the day of her birth it would be to be blind. She must have found that her blindness focused and strengthened her. Whatever the exact reason for her quote, what a testament to "...count it all joy."  She rose above the darkness of her circumstance and pointed people to the light in her life through poetry and song. What a personal challenge. Can I say that I rose above the darkness in my life and pointed others to the light of Jesus? This is a question that we will each have to answer. God never promised that there would be life without turmoil. 
7. James 1: 2-6   Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.
8. Miss Crosby lived to be 95 years old and died in 1915. The words she composed in her heart live on for future generations.   When singing a hymn in church, we stand before the Almighty God, giving offerings of praise through song. In those moments, it all just becomes real. We could be in the midst of a thousand people but it's really just us looking to God. We apply the words from the song we are singing and begin to analyze our lives and relationship to the Father and pray. It turns out I have sung many of Miss Crosby's songs. Her thoughts and words will always be a part of my life and more than likely my children's as well. 

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