The Glow of Gratitude

Fanny Crosby (writer of over 800 hymns including “Blessed Assurance”) said this...

"It seemed intended by the blessed providence of God that I should be blind all my life, and I thank him for the dispensation. If perfect earthly sight were offered me tomorrow I would not accept it. I might not have sung hymns to the praise of God if I had been distracted by the beautiful and interesting things about me."
If I had a choice, I would still choose to remain blind...for when I die, the first face I will ever see will be the face of my blessed Saviour." 


You see Fanny saw limitations differently than other people
and her gift of extraordinary sight---into the things of God---permeated her whole life.

Her blindness (providentially) made her see what was hidden to others.

What she knew, and what I have lived is this--
Suffering isn't wasted in the hands of the Almighty.

Suffering serves a great purpose. It transforms. It is the inevitable fork in the road of life.

The suffering may be unrelenting and inescapable. Let's suppose you cannot stop it. What can you do?
You begin with the end in mind. You decide how you will let it shape you.


Do you want let that bitterness strangle and coil its angry tentacles around your heart? Do you want to poison your relationships?

Or

Do you want to choose to let the suffering stretch your heart into a deep well of compassion and humility? Will you allow the pain to give birth to creativity (even a holy calling?) that was once buried deep?


Exchange the corrosion of bitterness for the

glow of gratitude.