Fanny Crosby

If you have the time, take a moment to read this short piece on Fanny Crosby. Then, if you will, take a moment to read and reflect upon the first verse and refrain from her beloved hymn, Blessed Assurance.

Fanny Crosby was prob­ab­ly the most pro­lif­ic hymn­ist in his­to­ry. Though blind­ed by an in­com­pe­tent doc­tor at six weeks of age, she wrote over 8,000 hymns. About her blind­ness, she said:
It seemed intend­ed by the bless­ed prov­i­dence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dis­pen­sa­tion. If per­fect earth­ly sight were of­fered me to­mor­row I would not ac­­cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis­tract­ed by the beau­ti­ful and in­ter­est­ing things about me.

In her life­time, Fanny Crosby was one of the best known wo­men in the Unit­ed States. To this day, the vast ma­jor­i­ty of American hymn­als con­tain her work.

When she died, her tomb­stone carried the words, “Aunt Fanny” and “Bless­ed as­sur­ance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a fore­taste of glory divine.”

Blessèd assurance, Jesus is mine!
O 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.

What an incredible testimony! Blind from birth, yet still able to pen such words of comfort and solace.