Francis was quite a girl. Bright. Inquisitive. Imaginative. She wrote a poem at eight years old. That would not be the last. As an adult she published several books of poetry. She faced setbacks. Her dad died when she was only six months old. She was raised by a single mother and her maternal grandmother. Her mother could have become self-absorbed in her own grief. Instead, she poured the word of God into little Francis.
Francis became interested in rescue mission work as a young lady. She labored for souls. She also had a passion for writing. Especially poems as a I mentioned earlier. She is credited for writing over 1,000 poems. Quite a feat for anyone. Her poems covered both secular and spiritual matters. As her popularity increased, she began writing under pseudonyms. It is estimated that Francis used around 200 pseudonyms to conceal her identity. That is all very impressive.
She also wrote 8,000 songs. Many of these songs were published. Not just published on a small scale. Those songs were published and printed over 100 million copies. That is 100,000,000 copies! She became a household name. She did not seek the fame or attention. She just did the work God put before her to do. Those 8,000 songs were 8,000 hymns. Many still in hymnals today. Francis was quite a woman.
All of that is fascinating. What you may not know is that as an infant she caught a cold. The cold advanced causing inflammation in her eyes leading to blindness. Yes, Francis did all of that work without sight. Pictures of her as an adult show her wearing shaded glasses. Francis lost her sight as a young girl. God gave her spiritual sight that soars past most people with 20/20 vision.
She once said, "It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all of my life. I thank Him for this dispensation."
How many of us could do that? To thank God for our maladies. She did. She also meant it. She went on to say, "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 around me."
Francis, better known as Fanny Crosby, saw things most of us will never see and she was blind. She saw into the spiritual realm. Some would say she was handicapped or disabled. I do not think Fanny would agree. She did not allow her blindness to keep her from a fully productive life for her Savior. In her blind condition, she did more than most people who can see.
I love one other quote from her. "When I get to Heaven the first face that shall ever gladden my sight will be that of my Savior." She has now been seeing that face for decades lost in the thrill of worship. Though she was blind now she sees. She was not disabled. She was Himabled. Get it. Him. Abled. Jesus empowered her to do more with her limitations than anyone might have thought was possible. What could He do through you and me if we surrendered to Him?
