OUT OF DESPAIR
G. F. Handel’s biographer described a time in his life when his health and his fortune had reached the lowest ebb. His right side had become paralyzed, and his money was all gone. His creditors had seized him and threatened him with imprisonment. For a brief time, he was tempted to give up the fight, but, then, he rebounded again to compose the greatest of his inspirations, the epic Messiah. When we stand to sing “The Hallelujah Chorus” — ‘The Lord omnipotent reigneth’ — we thus remember that the triumphant notes were composed by a man who was ‘dead broke’ and ‘half paralyzed.’
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