What crosses your mind when you open your eyes to face a new day? Are you excited about new growth, opportunities and relationships? Do you dread what appears to be lurking in the shadows of tomorrow and next week? Do you question God’s presence, His goodness or His work in your life in a rapidly changing nation and world? Or are you choosing to assess your situation and future through faith eyes that refuse to let the “breaking news” badness of people and circumstances overshadow the inherent goodness of God?
In the darkness just before sunrise, songbirds twitter sleepily to welcome the coming dawn. Their songs announce that bright daylight will soon flood the landscape, but their music begins in the dark.
In 1820 Frances Jane Crosby was born: a healthy, normal baby. A few weeks later, a quack doctor prescribed hot mustard poultices for a slight eye infection, resulting in total blindness. She lived with her parents until age fifteen. For the next twenty-three years, she lived at the New York Institution for the Blind, first as a student; then as an English and history teacher. Her cheerful, buoyant personality and her poetry brought widespread fame. Her first book, The Blind Girl and Others, was published in 1844 when she was twenty-four. In 1850 she committed her life to Jesus at a revival meeting. Eight years later, she married a fellow teacher, blind musician and composer Alexander Van Alstyne.
Fanny wrote her first hymn in 1864 at the request of song publisher William Bradbury. Her capacity for work was amazing; she would often compose lyrics for six or seven hymns a day in her head. Because Fanny could write little more than her name, Alexander or her secretary transcribed her hymns. Primarily because of her example of cheerful courage in the face of great adversity, her songs were very influential in American Protestant churches. Two of her bestknown hymns are Rescue the Perishing and Blessed Assurance.
Fanny Crosby became known as The Songbird in the Dark. Though she lived in physical darkness, spiritual and emotional light was evident in her life. Her joyful, uncomplaining acceptance of irreversible and terribly unfair medical negligence produced words that have impacted millions for 150 years. Had she chosen bitterness and complaining, darkness would have crept into her soul, obliterating the light.
Acts 16:19-31 tells of Paul and Silas singing in the darkness of a dungeon, after being beaten and imprisoned for preaching about Jesus. Scourged and bloody; their pain-wracked bodies hanging in stocks in a cold, damp dungeon, they sang praises to God in the darkness. At midnight, God caused an earthquake to break their chains and open the prison doors. The awestruck jailer and his entire household were saved.
Inevitably, every person has been, or will be, surrounded byhard,darkcircumstances. LikeFanny Crosby and Paul and Silas, we can choose to be uncomplaining in our darkness; choosing hope while we wait for the light. By faith, believers can praise God for His merciful provision and love; and for the bright eternal future we have with Him. Replacing complaining with gratitude and courage enables us to receive and enjoy what God has promised, now and throughout eternity.
Biblical Guidance through Infinite Grace Ministries teaches how to live with Godly wisdom and determination in a sin-broken world, as we learn of God’s amazing love and tender compassion. Infinite Grace Ministries is a growing and vital ministry. In a dark world, where confusion and fear is constantly threatening, there is a desperate need for the light of the Word of God. The Board of Directors has established a plan to bring this essential ministry to the forefront of our communities again. Ministry appointments are available with Dr. Dixie, Robert Huckleberry and Ellen Vanderveer. Call 580 774 2884 and talk to Kendra about dates and times.
