Scripture
It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees.
~Psalm 119:71, NIV
Quote
I have been asks many times why GOD allows suffering. I confess, I don’t know. I have to accept, by faith that GOD is sovereign and He is a GOD of mercy and compassion in the midst of suffering.
~Billy Graham
I’ve been a believer for 61 years and I understand how God uses affliction to refine us. I can certainly look back to some painful experiences that I do not want go through again; yet I know God used these times to teach me things I would never have learned otherwise but today’s story blows my mind and is completely out of my league. I had heard it before but came across it again yesterday in STREAMS IN THE DESERT [#4].
Fanny Crosby wrote more than 6,000 hymns. Fanny was not born blind. Her blindness came when she was a young child. An incompetent medical doctor applied a poultice to her eyes and it caused the blindness. Now that you know the basic facts; listen to this woman’s remarkable testimony. “I have heard that this physician never ceased to express his regret at the occurrence [blindness]; and that it was one of the sorrows of his life. If I could meet him, I would say, ‘Thank you, thank you, over and over again for making me blind.’ Although it may have been a blunder on the physicians part, it was no mistake on God’s. I believe that it was His intention that I should live my days in physical darkness, so as to be better prepared to sing His praises and to encourage others to do so.”
The bible never instructs us to close our eyes when we pray; so why do we close them? By the way, I don’t think Jesus ever closed His eyes when He prayed: He looked up to heaven. He did kneel on occasion but I’m not sure He bowed his head and closed His eyes. We close our eyes to avoid distractions. It is very difficult for you and I to pray with our eyes open due to the fact that we are so easily distracted. It doesn’t take much to distract us. Mrs. Crosby was never distracted by what she saw. I suppose this increased her ability to focus and concentrate. BUT, I still don’t understand how she could praise God for being blind. Yet, I do not question her testimony
I am on my I-pad tonight and do not know how to upload my graphics. Today is Joe David’s birthday [#44] and that doesn’t seem possible.