Her First Hymn

What do the hymns "To God Be the Glory," "Blessed Assurance," "All the Way My Savior Leads Me," and "He Hideth My Soul" all have in common? That's right, they were each written by Fanny Crosby.
Fanny Crosby proves that it's never to late to begin serving the Lord. Like Moses, who was 80, and Paul, who was middle-aged, Crosby met the Lord later in life. She was born in 1820. Six weeks later she was blind. When she was eight years old, she determined to make the best of it. She wrote, "O what a happy soul I am! Although I cannot see, I am resolved that in this world contented I will be."
She spent some years at The New York Institution for the Blind as a student, then a teacher, and then a writer. She rehearsed her poetry for Congress and for presidents.
In 1851, three decades after her birth, she met Jesus. In 1864, the hymnist William Bradbury suggested to her that she could write hymns. In fact, began by writing a hymn for Bradbury. On the day in history, Fanny Crosby wrote her first hymn. She was 44. By the time of her death, 50 years later, she had written 8,000 hymns.
So what's your excuse? What are you waiting for? Start using the gifts and talents that God has blessed you with for His glory!

January Reading

1. Crazy Love - Francis Chan.  I highly recommend this book to all Christians.
2. Phantastes - George MacDonald.  This is one of the books that inspired Lewis and Tolkien.