A dry, thirsty land

Being a farmer's daughter, my mood seems to be fairly closely tied to the land and the weather.  The last couple weeks we have had temperatures over 100 degrees each day with no rain.  Since we were dry already to start with everything is looking pretty sad and thirsty.  The grass in the pastures is drying up and the farmers' corn isn't looking too good either.

This is our creek- isn't the water pretty?!?  ):  The people who lived here before us said the creek had never dried up in all the seven years they had lived here, but it has dried up both years we've lived here.  It still has a water in a few spots, but it's definitely not flowing.  We could sure use some rain.  All the dryness makes me feel dry right down to my soul.  They are forecasting a small chance of rain for the weekend so we are praying we'll get some.

This morning I was playing some hymns on the piano, and came across He Hideth My Soul, by Fanny Crosby.  It's one of my favorites, but it seemed especially good today, especially the chorus.  No matter what the weather or how we feel, God's love for us is immeasurable!

A wonderful Savior is Jesus my Lord,

A wonderful Savior to me;

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock,

Where rivers of pleasure I see.

He hideth my soul in the cleft of the rock

That shadows a dry, thirsty land;

He hideth my life in the depths of His love

And covers me there with his hand.

Then I decided to read up about Fanny Crosby, since she wrote so many of our hymns.  She became blind as a baby, so her life was not easy.  She wrote this about her blindness.  "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." 

Fanny Crosby 1872

Then after she was married, she and her husband only had one child, a daughter, who died as an infant.  Knowing that gives the song more meaning, doesn't it?  Fanny Crosby wrote almost 9,000 hymns in her lifetime.  She didn't let the disability of being blind keep her from being used by God.