Frances Ridley Havergal

June 21, 2026
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I Felt Far From God. Many Christian women know what it's like to pray, serve, and attend church while secretly feeling distant from God. Frances Ridley Havergal carried that burden for years, longing to truly know Jesus and wondering why the joy others talked about seemed out of reach. In this powerful story of faith, spiritual longing, surrender, and transformation, discover what finally lifted her burden and inspired the woman who would later write beloved hymns like "Take My Life and Let It Be." If you've ever felt spiritually stuck, discouraged, or hungry for a deeper relationship with Christ, this episode offers hope and encouragement to trust Him more fully. "As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love." (John 15:9 NIV)

Full Transcript

Frances Ridley Havergal was born in 1836, in Astley, Worcestershire, the youngest of six children. Her father was a rector of a country parish and composed beautiful hymns and poetry, so Frances’s young life was filled with music. Her family gathered regularly to sing, Frances always joining in. She started writing her own poetry when she was incredibly young, having learned to read the Bible at age four. She was a bright and cheerful girl, and her parents taught Frances and her siblings to love their Savior.  

In 1850, Frances Havergal dedicated her life to Jesus and to Him only. She wrote more than twenty books, including books of sacred poetry and devotionals. But her most memorable writings were her hymns, of which she wrote more than fifty, her most well-known being “I Gave My Life for Thee” (written in 1853) and “Take My Life and Let it Be” (written in 1873). Many of her hymns are sung in churches today. 

Only Jesus Himself  

While Frances’s outer life was bright and cheerful, filled with joy and song, her inner life was dark and heavy, and for many years, she told nobody. She was six years old and carrying her own dark secret: she did not love her Savior.  

She, in fact, did not know Him. She wanted to love Him, like her parents and siblings did; she wanted to know Him, like He knew Himself to be. She wanted to feel that joy that obviously came with love for Him. But it would not come to her.  

It’s not as if she didn’t try. She’d get on her knees and ask Him to help her, to give her a brand-new heart and make everything better all at once. To make her love Him. But nothing changed for Frances, and this became a major focus of her life. 

By the time she was nine, still never having spoken about her secret burden, a visiting curate gave a message at her father’s parish, and the sermon touched her young heart. By this time, she was so troubled that she built up the courage to speak to the young curate. She confessed her secret and even told him she felt she was going backward. He didn’t give her the magic answer she’d hoped for, but told her to be a good girl and to pray, which was a letdown for Frances because she had been praying. So even after being honest with the curate, she still felt stuck and hadn’t a clue how to get unstuck.  

From that moment on, Frances prayed more. She prayed all the time, over and over again, with impatience, asking God to give her a new heart, to turn her into a Christian, to make her love Him, as if He would flick a wand and everything would change in an instant. It never did, and she carried on with her secret shameful pain. 

When she was eleven, she faced the worst pain of her life. Her mother became terribly ill. The night before she died, she said to Frances, “Fanny dear, pray to God to prepare you for all that He is preparing you.”  

Frances’s heart sank with grief and sadness. She had been praying. Still, these last words from her mother were etched into her heart forever as a reminder to never stop praying. Now having suffered her greatest loss, she picked herself up and kept moving forward with this new pain and suffering, along with the other.  

In 1850, when Frances was fourteen, she was sent to a boarding school in London, when a kind of revival broke out, and several girls found Jesus for the first time. They spoke about it to Frances, and she drank in everything they shared with her. She wept and prayed every day and night, thanking God for sending Jesus, yet still not realizing or knowing Him for herself. But her heart was waking—she knew that only Jesus Himself would ever satisfy her. 

After this revival, she became close with one of her teachers, and one night, they had a moment just the two of them, and Frances opened up to her about her enduring burden. She confessed how she longed to know Jesus for herself, to love Him, to know she was forgiven by Him, that she’d be willing to exchange everything she had—her father, her siblings, her family, everyone—if only she could know and love Jesus.  

Her teacher looked her in the eye, which felt to Frances as if she were looking into her soul, and asked why she could not know Him right now, that very moment, if only she would share all of her heart with Him, just as Frances had done with her. Could she do that? 

In that instant, a flicker of hope came over Frances that took her breath away. She answered, “I could, surely,” and without hesitation, she ran to her room and fell on her knees, spilling all that was in her heart to Jesus, just as she’d done with her teacher.  

Jesus met her there, and she gave her heart to Him completely, her burden lifted, never to plague her again.  

Frances devoted the rest of her life to Jesus, creating a legacy of books, poetry, devotionals, and beautiful hymns that reveal her love for Him and the impact truly knowing Him made in her life.  

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9, NIV). 

Frances Ridley Havergal was born in 1836, in Astley, Worcestershire, the youngest of six children. Her father was a rector of a country parish and composed beautiful hymns and poetry, so Frances’s young life was filled with music. Her family gathered regularly to sing, Frances always joining in. She started writing her own poetry when she was incredibly young, having learned to read the Bible at age four. She was a bright and cheerful girl, and her parents taught Frances and her siblings to love their Savior.

In 1850, Frances Havergal dedicated her life to Jesus and to Him only. She wrote more than twenty books, including books of sacred poetry and devotionals. But her most memorable writings were her hymns, of which she wrote more than fifty, her most well-known being “I Gave My Life for Thee” (written in 1853) and “Take My Life and Let it Be” (written in 1873). Many of her hymns are sung in churches today.

Only Jesus Himself

While Frances’s outer life was bright and cheerful, filled with joy and song, her inner life was dark and heavy, and for many years, she told nobody. She was six years old and carrying her own dark secret: she did not love her Savior.

She, in fact, did not know Him. She wanted to love Him, like her parents and siblings did; she wanted to know Him, like He knew Himself to be. She wanted to feel that joy that obviously came with love for Him. But it would not come to her.

It’s not as if she didn’t try. She’d get on her knees and ask Him to help her, to give her a brand-new heart and make everything better all at once. To make her love Him. But nothing changed for Frances, and this became a major focus of her life.

By the time she was nine, still never having spoken about her secret burden, a visiting curate gave a message at her father’s parish, and the sermon touched her young heart. By this time, she was so troubled that she built up the courage to speak to the young curate. She confessed her secret and even told him she felt she was going backward. He didn’t give her the magic answer she’d hoped for, but told her to be a good girl and to pray, which was a letdown for Frances because she had been praying. So even after being honest with the curate, she still felt stuck and hadn’t a clue how to get unstuck.

From that moment on, Frances prayed more. She prayed all the time, over and over again, with impatience, asking God to give her a new heart, to turn her into a Christian, to make her love Him, as if He would flick a wand and everything would change in an instant. It never did, and she carried on with her secret shameful pain.

When she was eleven, she faced the worst pain of her life. Her mother became terribly ill. The night before she died, she said to Frances, “Fanny dear, pray to God to prepare you for all that He is preparing you.”

Frances’s heart sank with grief and sadness. She had been praying. Still, these last words from her mother were etched into her heart forever as a reminder to never stop praying. Now having suffered her greatest loss, she picked herself up and kept moving forward with this new pain and suffering, along with the other.

In 1850, when Frances was fourteen, she was sent to a boarding school in London, when a kind of revival broke out, and several girls found Jesus for the first time. They spoke about it to Frances, and she drank in everything they shared with her. She wept and prayed every day and night, thanking God for sending Jesus, yet still not realizing or knowing Him for herself. But her heart was waking—she knew that only Jesus Himself would ever satisfy her.

After this revival, she became close with one of her teachers, and one night, they had a moment just the two of them, and Frances opened up to her about her enduring burden. She confessed how she longed to know Jesus for herself, to love Him, to know she was forgiven by Him, that she’d be willing to exchange everything she had—her father, her siblings, her family, everyone—if only she could know and love Jesus.

Her teacher looked her in the eye, which felt to Frances as if she were looking into her soul, and asked why she could not know Him right now, that very moment, if only she would share all of her heart with Him, just as Frances had done with her. Could she do that?

In that instant, a flicker of hope came over Frances that took her breath away. She answered, “I could, surely,” and without hesitation, she ran to her room and fell on her knees, spilling all that was in her heart to Jesus, just as she’d done with her teacher.

Jesus met her there, and she gave her heart to Him completely, her burden lifted, never to plague her again.

Frances devoted the rest of her life to Jesus, creating a legacy of books, poetry, devotionals, and beautiful hymns that reveal her love for Him and the impact truly knowing Him made in her life.

Jesus said, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love” (John 15:9, NIV).