Faith in Trials: The Example of Fanny Crosby

We look today with gratitude at the life of a woman by the name of Fanny Crosby. She is not part of our Episcopal-Anglican tradition, at least by her membership. Born in the late 1800s in the county of Putnam, New York, she was always a Methodist who never had any inkling of becoming an Episcopalian. And yet, her prolific hymnody has taken a place in the flow of our tradition.

This Is My Story

Fanny penned more than 9,000 hymns. And the remarkable thing about it? She was blind. She lost her sight when a quack doctor gave her the wrong treatment for what should have been a normal childhood illness.

But Fanny was not one to feel sorry for herself. She was extraordinarily bright, played several instruments and was a world-class student of poetry, thanks to the New York Society of the Blind, where she was both a student and, later, a teacher.

People would often say things to her like, “You know it’s a pity someone as gifted as you is blind,” but she had a response in a little poem written when she was just 8 years old: “Oh what a happy soul I am/Though I cannot see/I am resolved that in this world/Contented I will be/How many blessings I enjoy/That other people don’t/So to weep and sigh because I’m blind/I cannot, and I won’t.”

Fanny carried that kind of resolve through the rest of her life, becoming personal friends with several presidents. In fact, in her time she was a known celebrity.

This Is My Song

So if there is anybody who could have penned these words: “This is my story/This is my song/praising my Savior/all the day long,” it was Fanny Crosby. Her life carried a particular kind of joy, not because of her circumstances but because of her relationship with God. It reminds me of this breathtaking passage from Peter: “By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you who are being protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed at the last time” (1 Pet. 1:3-4). Now, that’s a song!

What this says, in essence, is that God says of you and me, “You are mine. You are mine.”  And believe me, if we are being protected by the power of God for a salvation to be revealed at the last time, we can count on the fact that we won’t get to heaven on our own resolve. And we all know, if we had to rely on ourselves to find a way to get from here to glory, we would be very unsure indeed.

But instead, we know we are kept by God’s power. And in this context, “salvation” really means “deliverance.” Deliverance from sin, fear, hell and death.

Praising My Savior

And here’s what salvation does and doesn’t do. It doesn’t set me free to say, “Oh, well, I don’t have to worry then. I can just do whatever I want.” “Sin boldly,” to quote Luther.

Instead, salvation does just the opposite. As it says in the same epistle, “Although you have not seen him (poignant for Fanny, as a blind person), you love him” (1 Pet. 1:8a). And that changes our deepest motivations. Despite my temptations and my broken past behavior, my desire is to please this one who loves me so dearly, who knows all that there is to know about me and more.

You see, his forgiveness and mercy is always greater than even my resolve to rebel. That’s a place of deep comfort. Who else loves you like that? Only God can be the one to fill the gaps in all those places where our hearts long for forgiveness. And we need to know it is He who will carry us home.

If that doesn’t inspire love and praise in you, I would urge you to go to God and say, “Lord, please change my cold heart.”

All the Day Long

Fanny had every reason to be resentful and angry. That’s how most people would respond. But she did not go that way at all, and the difference was Jesus. The difference is always Jesus.

Let us pray for him to work in us the capacity to walk with him in the midst of—not just in spite of—the trials that come our way, so that we can say with Fanny, “I am his. He will never let me go. And this is my story/This is my song/Praising my Savior/All the day long.”

How can we respond as Fanny Crosby did? Share this blog and your response on Twitter. Please include my username, @revgregbrewer.

(This post is an adaption of Bishop Brewer’s message at the Diocesan Altar Guild Annual Meeting on February 13, 2017, at St. David’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Cocoa Beach, Florida.)

Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.