“Take my life and let it be/ Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.”  Behind the words of this hymn lies a story of courage, a story of faithfulness, a story of humble heroism. This story, though it is the story of a weak, often dependent woman, is also the story of a victorious woman whose work has impacted Christians for over a century. Let me give you a glimpse of the life of this singer, poetess, musician, composer and teacher: Frances Ridley Havergal.

“Take My Heart”

“Little Quicksilver” as her father nick-named her, was born in Victorian England in 1836. She was never very healthy physically but even though she was not allowed to study too much or too hard, this bright little girl could read by the age of three. By the age of seven she was writing poetry. Her father, William Henry Havergal was a minister and Frances and her siblings were carefully taught to know God’s Word well. By the time she was a young woman, Frances could recite most of the New Testament, the book of Psalms and Isaiah!

When Frances was eleven her mother died. Before she died, Mrs. Havergal told her youngest daughter to pray that the Lord would “prepare her for what He was preparing for her.” In spite of all she had been taught Frances did not yet truly know Jesus as her Saviour and did not listen to her mother. It was only three years later, while staying with her eldest sister Miriam that she committed her soul to Christ. In the coming years, she would learn to pray the prayer her mother had taught her daily.

“Take My Intellect”

In her teen years Frances studied as hard as her health would allow. Not long after she became a Christian her father remarried and she travelled to Europe with him and her step-mother. There she spent the last two years of her schooling studying at a German school where she did very well. You might wonder how Frances managed to do so well when studying in a foreign language but language was another area where she was gifted. She could speak several languages and also studied Hebrew and Greek so that she could read the Bible in its original languages.

When she had finished her schooling, Frances returned to England with her parents and began to teach, and also wrote and published and some poetry. After her father’s death she prepared Havergal’s Psalmody for the press, a collection of her father’s hymns which included a few of her own. Later she remarked, “Never, except as an act of sheer mercy and pity, will I be an editor.”

“Take My Voice”

Besides writing, Frances loved to sing and write music. She was especially gifted with creating harmonies and gradually her ability turned into a ministry. Because of her poor health Frances was never able to be an oversees missionary, something she would have loved to do. She was naturally energetic and hard-working and it must have often been terribly frustrating for her to have to stop work and rest. However, far from giving up in despair, Frances did not let her weakness stop her from spreading the Gospel wherever she went. Several times she went on holiday to Switzerland to rest and recover and breathe the invigorating mountain air. While there she would invite people to hear her sing and would use the opportunity to read to them from the Bible. Wherever she went, whenever she had an opportunity, she would sing and teach songs to anyone who would listen. She worked hard to only sing words from the Bible and in this way God often used her to touch the hearts of lost people. John P. Hobson, who knew her personally, says that “No one could be in her company five minutes without recognising Whose she was and Whom she served.”

Of course, Frances is remembered best for her hymns. As John P. Hobson says “her poetry was not just stringing together words, but it was the very expression of her heart”. She poured her soul into her poetry, writing from her own experience and yet touching the experience of so many others. Some of her most famous hymns are “Like a River Glorious”, “Who is On the Lord’s Side?” and of course “Take My Life and Let it Be”. “Take My Life and Let it Be” is an amazing expression of her submission to her Saviour right down to the couplet that reads, “Take my voice and let me sing/ Always, only for my King”.

“Take My Will…make it Thine”

Four years after writing this hymn, Frances became terribly ill. Through her acute suffering she still found peace in her God and when she was told that even the doctors had noticed her patience she replied, “Oh! I am so glad you tell me this. I did want to glorify Him every step of the way, and especially in this suffering. I hope none of you will have five minutes of this pain.”

In 1879, at the age of forty-two, Frances Ridley Havergal went to be with her Saviour. John P. Hobson says of her “She “walked with God,” and by the attraction of a life bright with the beauty of holiness revealing itself in her writings she has exercised and still exercises a great power upon Christians by lifting them up to a higher walk with God.”

“Take Myself”

Frances Ridley Havergal’s story is a story of incredible hope and encouragement. Although she was a woman of strong faith she knew very well how sinful and undeserving she was. About two years before her death she said, “I can say for myself that I feel I have deserved the very suffering of hell for my transgression of the first great commandment of the law… and for my sin of unbelief.” Frances’s story reminds us how, even in frailty and weakness, perhaps especially in weakness, God in His mercy will take and use those who humbly dedicate their lives, “ever, only, all” to Him.

Bibliography

Enock, Esther E, Frances Ridley Havergal, The Christian Poetess, Pickering & Inglis, Great Britain

Smith, Jane Stuart, and Carlson, Betty, Great Christian Hymn Writers, Crossway Books, Illinois, 1997

Hobson, John P., Excellent Women (Various Authors), Project Gutenberg Ebook, 2003

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