{A Month of Hymns} Blessed Assurance
This hymn was written by Fanny Crosby, a woman whose life story was truly lived well. Crosby wrote over 9,000 hymns in her lifetime and chances are, if you grew up in church or even if you just found yourself there on holidays, you've heard many of them! As a baby, she was blinded by a man claiming to be a doctor and lived all her days without her sight. Once, when a well meaning pastor commented that it was a shame God took her eyesight away from her, Fanny replied, "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." Like the lyrics in this hymn she penned, her assurance was in Christ, and the life pumped into her heart was just a "foretaste of glory divine". Fanny knew that Jesus was the true life, that He offered her more than anything on Earth could. Her loss of sight could not deter her from praising Him, all the day long!
I want to live my chapter in God's story just like that.
This is my story...
I'm telling it to you through this blog and as M. Craig Barnes says in his book, Sacred Thirst, "[Life] is defined by the God who loves you. In other words, you are not the central character, not even of your own life's story. This is not meant to demean you; it is meant to set you free".
Free indeed! I cannot imagine the weight I would have to carry around if it was up to myself to prove my life worthy. Worthy of taking up space on this planet and worthy of being just part of God's story! But the pressure is off! I am not the central character! The story is the story of God and His love for His creation. Knowing that I am a character in HIS story assures me that I don't have to prove myself or work hard to glorify myself. My job in the story is to make the protagonist stand out, to glorify God! This makes my story, the happy parts and the sad, worth living out.
I, in my Savior, am happy and blessed.....