I Have Called You To Live

Life does not stop because we get old

We get old because we stop living life…

The body grows old, but our spirit remains

Crying out to be set free what freedom we gain

When we realize, we never die…

Don’t give in to the thoughts of the end

Listen to the Spirit of God…

Get up, keep dreaming, keep living…

Let your heart soar and sing…

[Blessed assurance Jesus is mine,

Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine…

Ere of salvation,

Purchase of God, Born of His Spirit

Washed in His blood!

This, is, my story…

This is my song…

Praising my savior all the day long!!] (Fanny Crosby)

~Marla Shaw O’Neill

• 1 Peter 1:3:

This verse speaks of a “living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” which is a key element of the assurance that “Blessed Assurance” celebrates.

• 1 John 4:18:

This verse states that “perfect love casts out fear,” a concept that aligns with the confidence and peace expressed in the hymn.

• Hebrews 10:22:

This verse encourages believers to “draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith,” which echoes the hymn’s theme of assurance.

• 1 John 4:7-19:

This passage speaks of God’s love, which is the foundation of the assurance that “Blessed Assurance” proclaims.

Frances Jane van Alstyne (née Crosby; March 24, 1820 – February 12, 1915), more commonly known as Fanny J. Crosby, was an American mission worker, poet, lyricist, and composer. She was a prolific hymnist, writing more than 8,000 hymns and gospel songs,^[a] with more than 100 million copies printed.^[1] She is also known for her teaching and her rescue mission work. By the end of the 19th century, she was a household name.^[2]

Crosby was known as the “Queen of Gospel Song Writers”^[3] and as the “Mother of modern congregational singing in America”,^[4] with most American hymnals containing her work.^[5] Her gospel songs were “paradigmatic of all revival music”,^[6] and Ira Sankey attributed the success of the Moody and Sankey evangelical campaigns largely to Crosby’s hymns.^[7] Some of Crosby’s best-known songs include “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Saviour“, “Blessed Assurance“, “Jesus Is Tenderly Calling You Home”, “Praise Him, Praise Him”, “Rescue the Perishing”, and “To God Be the Glory“. Some publishers were hesitant to have so many hymns by one person in their hymnals, so Crosby used nearly 200 different pseudonyms during her career.^[8][b]