I have a very dear friend who has spent most of last week lying on her back with her eyes shut due to the intense pain and soreness in her eyes. In spite of the pain, however, she is at peace as she trusts the Lord to care for her every need. What is it about the Christian that enables him to maintain such a juxtaposition of inward peace in the midst of outward disaster? This is a kind of peace that passes all understanding, a peace that God alone can offer. It comes from faith that God is bigger than any trial, wiser than us, sees more than we can, knows more than we know, manages better than we could, and is completely capable and fully willing to demonstrate His infinite love for those who will simply look to Him with faith that He can do these things.
As I was thinking about this dear friend of mine, I remembered Fanny Crosby. When Fanny Crosby wrote, "All the way my Savior leads me, / What have I to ask beside?" she was expressing her own testimony of God's guidance. Even her blindness, she realized, was a part of His plan.
When Fanny was about six weeks old, her parents had realized with alarm that something was wrong with her eyes. The local doctor was away, but the Crosbys found a man--no one afterward recalled his name--who claimed to be a physician. He put hot poultice on the baby's inflamed eyes, insisting it would draw out the infection. The infection did clear up, but white scars appeared, and in the months that followed the baby registered no response to objects held before her. As it turned out, Fanny was not totally blind. Even in old age she could discern day from night. But her vision was gone.
Yet this stimulated other gifts, such as her phenomenal memory. As a child, Fanny memorized whole sections of the Bible, including most of the Pentateuch, the four Gospels, all of Proverbs, and vast portions of other books, Whenever she wanted to "read" a passage, she just turned there in her mental "Bible" and read it verbatim. "This Holy Book," she said when eighty-five, "has nurtured my entire life."
Years later, Fanny viewed her blindness as a special gift from God, believing He had given her a particular "soul-vision" which equipped her for a special work. "It was the best thing that could have happened to me," she declared. "How in the world could I have lived such a helpful life had I not been blind?"
"Don't blame the doctor," Fanny said on another occasion. "He is probably dead by this time. But if I could meet him, I would tell him that unwittingly he did me the greatest favor in the world."
Though this hymn expressed Fanny Crosby's lifelong testimony, it was prompted by a specific incident in 1874. One day she didn't have enough money to pay her rent. Just as she committed the matter to God in prayer, a stranger appeared at her door and pressed a ten-dollar bill in her hand before disappearing. It was the very amount needed. That night, she wrote the words to "All the Way My Savior Leads Me."
All the way my Savior leads me;
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who through life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here by faith in Him to dwell!
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well;
For I know, whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
All the way my Savior leads me,
Cheers each winding path I tread;
Gives me grace for every trial,
Feeds me with the living Bread.
Though my weary steps may falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see;
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.
--Testimony of Fanny Crosby taken from
Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan
Labels: BATTLES, FAITH
When Fanny was about six weeks old, her parents had realized with alarm that something was wrong with her eyes. The local doctor was away, but the Crosbys found a man--no one afterward recalled his name--who claimed to be a physician. He put hot poultice on the baby's inflamed eyes, insisting it would draw out the infection. The infection did clear up, but white scars appeared, and in the months that followed the baby registered no response to objects held before her. As it turned out, Fanny was not totally blind. Even in old age she could discern day from night. But her vision was gone.