Fanny Crosby is one of the most amazing women who ever lived. She was born in New York in 1823. She became blind in both eyes as a baby, but it never held her back from reaching incredible goals. She attended school at the Institution for the Blind in New York City, where she ended up teaching English. She married Alexander van Alstyne, a musician and teacher who was also blind. In her lifetime, Fanny wrote more than 8000 hymns, as well as other poetry and popular songs.

One of Fanny's good friends was Phoebe Palmer Knapp (who was the wife of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company's founder). She brought a tune she had written when she visited Fanny one afternoon. She played it on the piano and then noticed that Fanny was on her knees kneeling in prayer. After the third time she played it, Fanny exclaimed the words, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!" It didn't take her much more time to complete this wonderful hymn.

Learn a little more about Fanny Crosby in this video: