Fanny Crosby

“And I will lead the blind in a way that they do not know, in paths that they have not known I will guide them. I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into the level ground. These are the things I do, and I do not forsake them.”
Isaiah 42:16 (ESV)

Fanny Crosby is a name I wish every Christian knew! Most of us know the songs she wrote, but far too few know her story. I would like to help change that! She was born March 24, 1820 in New York. She fell ill at 6 weeks old. A man who pretended to be a doctor, yet having no certification, caused her to go blind from maltreatment. Not long after, her father died leaving her and her mother alone. She was mostly raised by her Christian grandmother.

Even as a little girl, it was evident she was very gifted, particularly in poetry. At age 8, she wrote this poem concerning her blindness,

“Oh, what a happy soul I am
Although I cannot see!
I am resolved that in this world
Contented I will be.
How many blessings I enjoy
That other people don't,
To weep and sigh because I'm blind
I cannot, and I won't!”

As Fanny grew to an adult, it was clear she was talented, but she wasn’t a Christian, and although she enjoyed great success, even meeting Presidents and other government officials, she wasn’t born-again. In November of 1850, at the age of 30, she began to feel a need for God. She visited quite a number of revival meetings, but it wasn’t until the end of the month, on the 20th of November, that she became born-again! The congregation sang the glorious hymn written by Isaac Watts over a century prior in 1707, “Alas! And did my Savior Bleed.”

Alas! and did my Savior bleed, and did my Sovereign die?

Would He devote that sacred head for such a worm as I?

Was it for crimes that I had done He groaned upon the tree?

Amazing pity! grace unknown! and love beyond degree!

Thus might I hide my blushing face while his dear Cross appears;

Dissolved my heart in thankfulness, and melt mine eyes to tears.

But drops of grief can ne’er repay the debt of love I owe;

Here, Lord, I give myself away- ‘tis all that I can do.

It was during the words, “Here, Lord, I give myself away – ‘tis all that I can do,” that she gave herself fully to the Lord and the light of the Gospel opened the blind eyes of her soul. She said of that night, “I surrendered myself to the Savior, and my very soul flooded with celestial light. I sprang to my feet, shouting, ‘Hallelujah.’”

Throughout the rest of her life, God used her to pen more than 8,000 poems of which many were put to hymns. Among her most loved are “Blessed Assurance”, “Sweet Hour of Prayer”, “Pass me not O Gentle Savior”, “Jesus, keep me near the cross”, and “Praise Him, praise Him.”

A well meaning minister once said to her, “I think it is a great pity that the Master did not give you sight when he showered so many other gifts upon you.” She responded, “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 faith she had in Christ and the goodness of God! Fanny always joked that she would live to be over 100 years old, she nearly made it! She died at age 95. There is no doubt as she closed her eyes in death that she awoke to that beautiful face she longed to see.

“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

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.”

“It seemed in-tend-ed by the bless-ed prov-i-dence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dis-pen-sa-tion. If per-fect earth-ly sight were of-fered me to-mor-row I would not ac-cept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been dis-tract-ed by the beau-ti-ful and in-ter-est-ing things about me.”

- Fanny Crosby
1820 - 1915