
On this 200th anniversary of the birth of the blind hymn writer Frances Jane Van Alstyne (Fanny Crosby) I am reminded of a story in my book “Singing on the Journey Home.” This story “My Saviour, My Guide” is linked with Fanny Crosby’s hymn “All the Way my Saviour Leads Me.” Thinking very much on this prolific hymn writer and on this particular hymn today, I quote the little story here, showing how indeed my Lord has “led me all the way… “
“One cool autumn evening in the year 1980, I sat in my bedroom flicking through the pages of a Christian magazine, when something caught my eye. “A Month’s overland to Israel… May 1981. Just £299 all inclusive! Book now for a place on this exciting tour.” I was still in my twenties then; a young Christian who had come to know the Lord just two years previously. Thoughtfully I put the magazine down and then went out for a twilight walk in the little back lane behind our home. I thought about this trip as I walked. Having given up all my old haunts on becoming a Christian, I did feel isolated on occasions. This would be a good way of meeting other young Christians and somehow I felt that it was of the Lord that I should go.
May 1981 saw me standing in London, meeting others from all over the world who had decided to go on this trip. Some had travelled in twos and threes but I was alone and knew no one. We were to travel by boat to Holland; then on to Germany, Austria, Yugoslavia (as it was then) and Greece. From there we were to sail to Cyprus and finally to Israel, where we would stay for some time. I found it one of the most (if not the most) fascinating of all the trips I had ever made. The heavy rain in Holland, turning to snow in Germany and Austria, prevented us from stopping to camp in these countries, so that we reached Yugoslavia all the sooner. There, in pre-war Yugoslavia a warm sun greeted us. This may have been the 1980’s but I was amazed by the sight of oxen pulling old ploughs across the fields. The peasant people working in the fields made me feel that I had gone back on a “time machine” to the turn of the century, and I sat in awe of the endless beautiful forests and glorious mountainous scenery that lined the route taken by our coach. By the time we reached Greece, the sun was exceedingly warm and we were able to ‘take a dip’ in the turquoise waters of the Aegean Sea. The tour leader had arranged sleeping facilities for everyone, so that it was necessary to separate into threes – but who would I share with?
As it happened there were two girls from the Republic of Ireland sitting directly in front of me on the bus. “Will you share with us?” they asked me. “Of course!” I responded. (Until then I had felt a little bit lonely, even amongst all those people.) Perhaps it was this simple gesture on their part that would lead to events that changed my life forever…
On return to Ireland, one of the girls (Trish) invited me to stay at her home in Dublin for the weekend, an invitation which I readily accepted. On the journey by car from the railway station to her home in Clontarf, she pointed out a young man cycling with two little boys in her neighbourhood. “That’s Martin,” she commented, “he’s like a father to those little brothers of his. I expect he’ll be around later for a cup of tea. I was telling him about our trip to Israel and that the girl in the photographs with me was coming to stay for the weekend.”
Martin did come around later and some time later again I told him the story of how I became a Christian. Over the months that lay ahead we were to become very good friends indeed, as I visited Trish on a number of occasions and eventually he met my family across the border and I met his in Dublin. However, I was concerned as a Christian about where this relationship was leading; Martin described himself as an agnostic although he came along to church with me on Sundays.
One Sunday, just a few weeks after the anniversary of our first meeting, Martin came to church with my family and me as usual. The date (11th July 1982) is one which holds a special place in our hearts. I certainly was not aware that the Lord had used the sermon: “who then is able to stand before me?” (Job 41v10) to make an impression on him. I can recall that it was a lovely hot summer’s day and that after our return from church, dinner was ready but Martin was missing. After a while I discovered him in an upstairs room, in tears. I was overjoyed when he told me that he had found the Lord. “I can see it! He affirmed, as he stood later in our old kitchen.
How marvellous that the Lord had answered my oft repeated prayer that I would have the joy of seeing Martin saved. Now there would no longer be that ‘unequal yoke’ between us. (2Cor. 6v14) We were now one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3v26-29)… “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace;” (Eph. 1v7). Martin began to read the scriptures methodically. The Book of Hebrews was certainly a revelation to him… “And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now where remission of these is, there is no more offering for sin.” (Hebrews 10v17&18)
Nearly three decades later, I still reflect on my little walk alone at dusk in our back lane, and how I decided to go to Israel and how, by a series of events, the Lord worked out His will in my life – and in the life of my husband, Martin. What a loving Shepherd, and what a perfect Guide to have on all of life’s journey! In the words of Psalm 48v14: “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” Frances Jane Van Alstyne (Fanny Crosby) the prolific hymn writer, may have been physically blind from just six weeks old, but how spiritually sighted she became! Her lovely hymn “All the way my Saviour leads me” I sing, when I think back on how Jesus led me all the way…”
(Above is a scan of an old photograph of the little back lane where I once walked alone with my thoughts.)
In these uncertain days when the days look so bleak and the news so terrible, the Saviour is with His children, ever leading them on and leading them Homewards… “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.” And I also believe that He will touch hearts through this current world pandemic….
All the Way My Saviour Leads Me
All the way my Saviour leads me:
What have I to ask beside?
Can I doubt His tender mercy,
Who thro’ life has been my Guide?
Heav’nly peace, divinest comfort,
Here, by faith, in Him to dwell!
For I know whate’er befall me,
Jesus doeth all things well.
All the way my Saviour leads me;
Cheers each winding path I tread;
Gives me grace for ev’ry trial,
Feeds me with the Living Bread.
Tho’ my weary steps should falter,
And my soul athirst may be,
Gushing from the Rock before me,
Lo! A spring of joy I see.
All the way my Saviour leads me:
Oh, the fullness of His love!
Perfect rest to me is promis’d
In my Father’s house above.
When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day,
This, my song through endless ages –
Jesus led me all the way.
Frances Jane Van Alystyne
(1820-1915)