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You’ve probably heard “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,” “Blessed Assurance,” “To God be the Glory,” “Pass Me Not O Gentle Savior,” and “Jesus Keep Me Near the Cross.” Chances are good you’ve even sung those hymns at one point or another.
But did you know that the author of those world-famous hymns almost never made it out of childhood?
Fanny J. Crosby was born in 1820, but within two months’ time, she had lost her eyesight due to a quack doctor’s absurd malpractice. Just a few months after that, she also lost her father. Crosby’s mother could barely afford Fanny and the expenses that accompanied a blind child in that day, so the young girl was primarily raised by her grandmother who was a devout Christian.
Around the age of 15, Crosby was sent to the newly opened New York Institute for the Blind. She began to write poetry and music, but the principal counseled her to avoid such “distractions.” It wasn’t until another quack doctor – a phrenologist – visited the campus that she gained permission to explore her gifts. Upon seeing her work, he exclaimed, “Here is a poetess. Give her every possible encouragement. Read the best books to her and teach her the finest that is in poetry. You will hear from this young lady some day.”
In fact, the whole world would hear from that young lady.
In all, Fanny Crosby authored more than 9,000 hymns. In fact, she wrote so many hymns that she often used pen names to avoid hymnals being filled with her name above all others. She knew and influenced all six presidents of her lifetime – especially Grover Cleveland – and made multiple addresses to Congress. Her work has outlived her by many generations; not a Sunday goes by that her hymns aren’t sung in churches around the world.
A well-intentioned preacher once remarked to her, “I think it a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when He showered so many other gifts upon you.”
She quickly replied, “Do you know that if at birth I had been able to make one petition, it would have been that I was born blind? Because when I get to Heaven, the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior.”
What an attitude! She saw her blindness as a blessing.
Resource’s Origin:
131 Christians Everyone Should Know by Mark Galli. Broadman and Holman, 2000, Pages 160-162.
Topics Illustrated Include:
Attitude
Blessing
Blind
Doctor
Excuses
Humility
Hymn
Influence
Music
Purpose
Work
(Resource cataloged by David R Smith)
