With the Strength of God, We Can Overcome!
Category: Pastor's ColumnMay, 2011
Do you know who Fanny Crosby was? Fanny was the author of many familiar hymns that we sing throughout the year. “Blessed Assurance”, “My Savior First of All”, “Rescue the Perishing”, and “Saved by Grace” are but a few hymns she wrote. Fanny had a gratitude towards God after a direct answer to prayer, and that event helped her to put onto paper words from her heart. One day, as the story goes, Fanny was in need of $5 and she had no idea where it was going to come from. Within a few minutes a stranger appeared at her door with just the right amount. “I have no way of accounting for this”, she wrote, “except to believe God, in answer to my prayer, put it into the heart of this good man to bring the money. My first thought was, it is so wonderful the way the Lord leads and I sat down and wrote a poem to show my gratitude.” That poem was put to music by Robert Lowry in 1867.
Fanny Crosby was a remarkable woman. She was born in 1823 to parents who lived her greatly, buy were humble in their possessions. At age 6, she was blinded by improper medical treatment. She was a teacher and in her forties began to write her well known gospel hymn. She composed 8,000 hymn texts in her lifetime.
Talk about overcoming. Rather poor, blind and fighting all the obstacles that those things bring with them, Fanny Crosby would not be put down. She was a strong faithful woman. At her funeral, the words from Hebrews 10:22 were read to describe her faith: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having out hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.”
Do you have things that might be holding you down or holding you back? Sure, we all do. Perhaps not something as serious as being blind, but every single day there is a possibility that “this” or “that” will get to us and bring us down with a crashing thud. When that happens (and it probably will several times), what is our reaction and how do we think about these moments? Do we make the most of them or do we let them get the better of us? Do we fight them off or let them conquer us?
I believe that with the strength of God, we can, and we will overcome it all. The promise of an empty tomb, which we celebrated just days ago, should not fade. It should remain as an icon of life and faith for our lives. Jesus overcame death. With his help and his presence, we can overcome any obstacle that comes our way.
As we sing hymns, and read scripture, may we be inspired to go forth with victory in our sights.
Pastor Woody


