This is my story…

I was born December 3, 1969. Just before my first birthday, I was diagnosed with cancer in both eyes. My right eye was removed, and life with impaired sight as I now know it began. Although the disease left me with limited sight in my remaining eye, my relationship with Christ Jesus my Lord gave me vision. Being raised in a Christian home, I was saved at the early age of nine.

I am a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist by profession but a songwriter by passion. I never set out to embark on a career or ministry in music. My plans were always to complete my degree in Mental Health counseling and establish myself in the field. God however had other plans in mind. “His ways are higher than our ways.” In 1993, the Holy Spirit was moving in my heart and gave me a burning desire to write a song.

I did just that; I wrote a song about a dear friend that I had just met a couple of months prior to this writing. I thought it was just a fluke, a flu bug, a passing phase I was going through. Once I completed the song, I expected this desire to fade and life to return to its normal routine. WRONG! God was not finished, He had only just begun.

Over the years I honed my skills in the craft of songwriting by networking with other lyricists, recording engineers, and vocalists. I continued to write and rewrite songs, keeping an ongoing notebook and a journal of what motivated me to write the songs. Although my style has changed over the years, the source from which many of my songs are derived has not. The lyrics stem from personal life experiences, friendships, and spiritual trials and growth.

God has been the author of many of my favorite works. What I mean by this is that some of my melodies and lyrics come by much hard work and labor while others were simply inspired by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit lays words on your heart, you better be ready to write because they flow like a river from your heart through the pen to the paper. Rarely do these songs require much alteration or improvement.

Jeremiah 29:11 reads, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, sayeth the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.”

I performed in churches but never imagined or set a goal to record an album. The music industry has always been demanding and a difficult market to enter and succeed in, that I just never set out to pursue it. Once again, God had other plans.

I received numerous requests for CDs from members of my church and congregations for whom I performed. After several requests, the Lord really made it very clear to me that this was His will for me; to record an album. Dollar signs began to flash before my eyes, and I thought this was a doomed project from the get-go. Never underestimate the power of the Lord. He still provides for us today as He did in Bible times.

God made the way for my recording the first album, My Best For Him, in 2001. The song, “To Know You”, became the theme song at Boones Creek Baptist camp the summer of 2001. I recorded the second album, Back to the Cross, in 2003.

When I became a Vision Rehabilitation Therapist in 2001, I never expected my passion and career in music to intersect with my profession as a teacher. I have always tried to avoid mixing business with pleasure. What I found, though, was that the two complimented each other very well. My clients longed to hear that there was life after blindness. I was the example they looked to for hope. I have never considered myself an idol nor do I care to be placed on a pedestal.

At first I was reluctant to share with my clients the fact that I play the piano, sing, and write music. Through the support group I lead, too often this truth comes out. What amazed me was that it has encouraged others to pursue long forgotten hobbies, passions, and pursuits. I am no miracle worker, what I have tried to convey through instruction, through music, and through my life walk was captured in the words of one of my most recent works, “You Just Need Vision.”

A few lines from the chorus read:

It doesn’t matter if you’re sighted or blind
If you can picture it in your mind
You can do it
You just need vision

I write what the world “needs” to hear. That is, the truth about God. I do not write for fame or fortune. I write that I might lead lost souls to Christ. If just one person comes to know Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior through the words of my songs and the leading of the Holy Spirit, then I have reached my goal.

God has not finished His work in me. I have not written my last song. As long as I have the passion to write and the prompting of the Holy Spirit, I have a mission and a vision.

-- Eva C. Crowder