Frances Ridley Havergal: The Box She Packed with Joy
A woman in England sat at her desk packing nearly fifty pieces of jewelry into a box to give away, a collection she said was fit for a countess. She was smiling. She later said she had never packed a box with such pleasure. Why? Because years earlier she had written a hymn, and she refused to sing words she would not live.
Little Quicksilver
Frances Ridley Havergal was born in 1836, the lively youngest daughter of an English pastor who called her Little Quicksilver. She read at three, mastered Greek and Hebrew, and memorized whole books of the Bible. Her health was always frail, so she gave God everything while she still could. She once said she never spent a sixpence without sensing it belonged to Him.
The Hymn She Wrote in One Sleepless Night
Staying in a home full of people who did not know Christ or had lost their joy in Him, Frances prayed for every one of them. By the last night God had answered, and she was too full of joy to sleep. So she sat up and wrote Take My Life and Let It Be, handing God her hands, her voice, her silver and her gold, her will, her heart. Then she proved she meant it, shipping nearly all of her jewelry to a missionary society.
Present Your Bodies a Living Sacrifice
“Present your bodies a living sacrifice,” Paul wrote in Romans 12:1. Most of us hand God a slice. Frances gave Him the whole account, and the more she gave, the more joy she found. She died at forty-two, but the song she wrote on that sleepless night is still sung around the world.
What would change this week if you stopped singing take my life and started meaning it? And that, friend, is how God lifts up your day.
Related Devotionals
- Fanny Crosby: The Blind Woman Who Wrote 8,000 Hymns
- Matthew Henry: Robbed and Still Thankful
- George Müller: The Life That Proved God Answers Prayer
- John Newton: The Slave Trader Who Helped End Slavery
- What Is Costly Discipleship? Bonhoeffer’s Cost of Discipleship in Plain English
Listen on the podcast: Lift Up Your Day — 5-Minute Daily Devotionals
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Books by Pastor Rodney Coe
If this story stirred something in you, you’ll love Pastor Rodney’s books — short, story-rich devotionals that put the gospel back at the center. See all books.