You Can Trust Him

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For a few days, I want to share with you scenes from the life of prolific blind hymnwriter Fanny Crosby, as presented by the Homeschool Dramatic Society earlier this month in Cookeville, Tennessee. How I love being with these children and seeing what they can do after only seven days of rehearsal together. Every day practice begins with a prayer and a shout of the goal of HDS: To God Be the Glory. Let me introduce the 97 members of this year’s cast:

I took the photos that I am sharing from my second row seat during dress rehearsal the afternoon before Blessed Assurance: The Story of Fanny Crosby opened the next morning.

As the play opens in the Crosby home, a worried Mercy Crosby holds her sleeping baby girl and sings to her “All Through the Night.” Mercy’s mother, Eunice, sews in a rocking chair beside her.

All Through the Night
Traditional Lullaby

Sleep my child and peace attend thee,
All through the night.
Guardian angels God will send thee,
All through the night.
Soft the drowsy hours are creeping,
Hill and dale in slumber sleeping,
I my loved ones’ watch am keeping,
All through the night

When the lullaby is complete, Eunice asks, “How is she, Mercy?” Mercy responds that she doesn’t know how Fanny is sleeping since she is burning with fever.  When Eunice asks if she should tell Mercy’s husband John to go for the doctor, Mercy reminds her that Dr. Harper is away. Eunice then says, “Let me look at her.”

Mercy tells her, “You can’t see how red her eyes are, but the inflammation is getting worse.”

Fanny’s father John then enters and asks how the baby is doing.

When Mercy tells him about the fever and the inflammation in her eyes, her husband tells her that he met a man in town that day who has had some medical training. He says that he will go and ask him to come. When Mercy asks if her husband thinks that man will know what to do, he responds, “Something is better than nothing!”

John exits quickly and Mercy turns to her mother, saying, “Oh, Mother, what do we do?” Eunice reminds her to trust in the Lord. Soon John Crosby returns with a Mr. Walter Harris.

Walter Harris examines the baby and then declares that the thing to do is to apply hot poultices to draw out the infection. He asks for hot water and rags. Eunice returns with the items and steps aside to pray, while Mr. Harris prepares his “remedy.”

Fanny screams when the hot poultices touch her eyes, but Mr. Harris promises that they will start seeing improvement by morning. Mercy tells her crying baby, “It’s all right, Fanny. Dr. Harris says you’ll be better in the morning.”  Mother, father, and grandmother huddle around Fanny . . .

. . . and the lights dim.

In scene 2, the lights come up on the Crosby home to reveal Mercy holding her baby. She tells her mother, “Come look at Fanny.” Eunice wonders if Fanny is sick again, but Mercy tells her that the inflammation is gone but something doesn’t seem right about her eyes. She says that Fanny doesn’t look at her anymore. Eunice gets up from her rocking chair, walks over to her daughter, and waves her hand in front of the baby’s face, calling “Fanny? Fanny?”

There is no response. Mercy asks, “Mother, you don’t suppose that . . . . My baby isn’t . . . . Oh, Mother. Can Fanny see?”

As Fanny’s mother and grandmother take in what they have just realized, John Crosby enters the room. He tells them that he told Dr. Harper about Walter Harris and the poultices. He says that the doctor said that was probably the worst thing for her eyes. He said, “But I told him Fanny got better just the same,”

In anguish Fanny tells her husband, “John, look at our baby girl. John, I don’t think she can see!” John protests that a baby’s eyes aren’t fully developed yet, but Mercy interrupts him saying, “No, John. Look at our Fanny. She’s . . . blind.”

Distraught, Mercy, John, and Eunice begin to cry together . . .

. . . and the lights go down.

Thus began the blessed and productive life of Frances Jane “Fanny” Crosby. God blessed Mercy Crosby, who was at this stage a distraught young mother, with the opportunity to see her blind child grow into a woman who lived her life for God and who taught many others to live for Him, too. God accomplishes amazing things even in the most desperate circumstances. We can trust Him—and we can teach our children to trust Him, too.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
In all your ways acknowledge him,
And He will make your paths straight.
Proverbs 3:5-6

 

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