Blessed Assurance
By: Lynne Conley
Scripture Text: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it is tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: ( 1 Peter 1:7 KJV)
John and Mercy Crosby were proud parents of a little girl ’’ Frances Jane Crosby’’. Her nickname was Fanny when Fanny was six weeks old; she became ill with a bad cold and some type of eye infection. Their family physician was out of town, unfortunately, another man that claimed to be a licensed physician. This man treated Fanny; he prescribed her with hot mustard poultices to be applied to her eyes. Over time she became well, but this procedure left her blind. When this physician was exposed to be an impostor, he had left town. Fanny’s father passed away when she was only one year of age. Her mother was forced to work; she was a maid to support the family. Fanny’s grandmother mostly raised her. Fanny memorized bible scriptures; she memorized at least five chapters a week. All her mother’s hard work paid off in the end; shortly before Fanny’s fifteenth birthday, she was sent to the New York Institute for the Blind. This was a place she called home for twenty-three years; this is where she indulged in her own poetry. When she was twenty-three years of age, she was addressing Congress, and making friendships with the Presidents. She even knew all the chief executives of her lifetime, especially Grover Cleveland. He served as secretary for the New York Institute for the Blind; this was before his election. She could play piano, harp, guitar, and other instruments. Fanny wrote over nine thousand hymns and composed music. She preferred to write simple and used it for evangelism. Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey used her hymns in their crusades. When Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey used her hymns in their crusades, they received even more attention. Among the hymns are ‘’ Blessed Assurance,’’ ‘’ All the Way My Savior Leads Me,’’ Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior’’ and so many more. My personal favorite of her hymns is ‘’ Blessed Assurance”. Fanny never complained, whined, or became bitter because she was blind. She spent the rest of her life using the gift the Lord gave her. Living for the Lord helps us to deal and cope with the hard knocks that this life brings to us. We should always join together with friends that can relate to us. Friends that are a lifter of our soul; people we can escape from the hard knocks that life can bring to us. The Lord has placed in my life so many close friends. Many of them are just close to my heart as my family is to me. We should tell our friends what they mean to us. Stay Encouraged!
