Write 31 days: Prompt: Song
This is my story, this is my song. That’s what came to mind first with this prompt. This favorite and beautiful hymn that is nearly 200 years old. Some songs just pass the test of time and this Fanny Crosby hymn, along with many others, is one of them.
What’s your favorite?
What is your favorite song that has passed the test of time? It might be hard to choose but I’d love to enjoy a bunch of songs today. So post a favorite “oldie, but goodie” in the comments for me. it doesn’t even have to be a religious song.
Hymn: Blessed Assurance
From the very day she wrote them, Crosby’s words have provided comfort for millions of Christians in the face of fear, persecution, sorrow, and doubt. In spite of all the trials that may come, we know that we serve a Savior who came to bring the Kingdom of God on earth, and as we serve Him, we participate in, and belong to, that Kingdom. We each play our own part in that “glorious foretaste” of what is still to come. We belong to Christ and his Kingdom – what an assurance this is!
Author: Fanny Crosby
Fanny Crosby, byname of Frances Jane Crosby, married name Fanny Van Alstyne, (born March 24, 1820, Southeast, N.Y., U.S.—died Feb. 12, 1915, Bridgeport, Conn.), American writer of hymns, the best known of which was “Safe in the Arms of Jesus.”
Crosby lost her sight to an eye infection and medical ignorance at the age of six weeks. She nonetheless grew up an active and happy child. From 1835 to 1843 she attended the New York Institution for the Blind in New York City. Her inclination to versify was encouraged by a visiting Scottish phrenologist, who examined her and proclaimed her a poet. Thereafter she was the school’s chief ornament.
She contributed a poetic eulogy on President William Henry Harrison to the New York Herald in 1841 and subsequently published verses in other newspapers. In 1844 she published her first volume, The Blind Girl and Other Poems, and in 1851 her second, Monterey and Other Poems. From 1851 she began writing verses to be set to music. With George F. Root, music instructor at the school, Crosby wrote a successful cantata, The Flower Queen. She also wrote lyrics for scores of songs, some of which, such as “Hazel Dell,” “There’s Music in the Air,” and “Rosalie, the Prairie Flower,” were widely popular. After her graduation, Crosby remained at the New York Institution for the Blind as a teacher of English grammar and rhetoricand of ancient history until 1858.
That year she married Alexander Van Alstyne, also blind, a former pupil, and then a teacher at the school, and she published her third volume, A Wreath of Columbia’s Flowers. About 1864 Crosby began writing hymns. Like her poetry, her hymns suffer generally from cliché and sentimentality, but they also display an occasional gleam of more than ordinary talent. In all Crosby wrote between 5,500 and 9,000 hymns, the exact count obscured by the numerous pseudonyms (as many as 200, according to some sources) she employed to preserve her modesty. The best known of her hymns include:
- “Safe in the Arms of Jesus,”
- “Rescue the Perishing,”
- “Blessed Assurance,”
- “The Bright Forever,”
- “Savior, More Than Life to Me,” and
- “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior.”
Hymn Lyrics
BLESSED ASSURANCE
Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels, descending, bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.Refrain:
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior all the day long.
Hymn STory
One day in 1873, Aunt Fanny was visiting with a friend, Mrs. Joseph Knapp, a musician of sorts and wife of the founder of Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. During their visit Mrs. Knapp played a tune on her piano, which she had recently written. She then asked Fanny, “What does this tune say?” After kneeling in prayer for a few moments, she rose and declared, “It says, ‘Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!’”
Aunt Fanny began to dictate verses to Mrs. Knapp, who wrote them down, fitting them to the melody just as we hear it sung today.
Listen to the Song
Enjoy Third Day singing this beautiful song.
What’s Your Favorite “Oldie, but Goodie” song? COmment now!
So tell me what is your all time favorite song? religious or secular. Why?
Pastor’s Wife (retired) & Chronic Pain Warrior blogs about how to make it through anything by relating her own life experiences to her writing. She is passionate about her love for the Lord and desires to spread that passion to others. She has a great desire to encourage women who are following behind her.
Blessed Assurance is one of my faves too!
We are like sisters or something. heart to heart across the miles!