Hester Ann Roe Rogers

August 9, 2026
optimizing

You Don’t Have to Earn God’s Love. Hester Ann Rogers spent years battling guilt, perfectionism, and the fear that she could never be good enough for God. But when she finally understood the unconditional love, grace, and forgiveness of Jesus, the burden she had carried for years began to fall away. Her story reminds Christian women that faith isn't about endlessly proving our worth to God—it’s about receiving the grace He has already provided through Christ. Listen and remember: you are not loved because you performed perfectly; you are loved because Jesus gave Himself for you. “For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!” (Romans 5:17 NIV)

Full Transcript

Hester Ann Rogers was born in 1756 In Cheshire, England. In 1784, she married Mr. James Rogers, a Methodist preacher, and they moved about evangelizing. Everywhere they went, their churches grew. 

Hester was known as a “Mother in Israel.” She led classes in her husband’s churches, where she’d teach about prayer and devotion, and the glorious love and forgiveness of Jesus. Her classes would grow so large, her husband would have to split the classes up, and Hester would begin again with a smaller group, repeating this over and over again wherever they went, blessing many souls. 

Her Greatest Wish 

Hester Rogers was a studious young girl who revered God, always conducting herself honorably. Her father, a religious, strict clergyman, imparted many rules to obey within the home. Daily Bible readings were to occur every day, and she should never miss her morning and evening prayers, which were like memorized prayers repeated over and over again. These things became routine to Hester.  

When she was six years old, she went to bed one night and suddenly realized she’d forgotten to say her evening prayers. The guilt of this weighed so heavy on her conscious that she trembled in fear that God would strike her in that moment and doom her to hell, even imagining the devil appeared at her bedside to snatch her away, causing her to cry out in fear and terror and her parents to come running to her rescue.  

At age nine, Hester’s father became ill. She sat near his bedside, and he told her to never read novels, never to dance, and never to play or visit with friends, as these were sins that could take hold and overcome her. He died not long after. 

Sometime after this, her mother surprisingly permitted Hester to learn to dance. She fell in love with it. And thus began a perpetual battle in her heart—dancing, repenting, dancing, repenting, back and forth, feeling a constant contrition pressing on her to her very core. How could she ever be good enough to belong to God? For years she would carry her burden to Him and beg of Him to help her, but then she would take it back up again and continue bearing it alone.  

Eventually an idea sprung up: if Hester wrote down her good deeds versus her bad deeds, it may give hope. She did this and saw the good outweighed the bad! Maybe she would go to heaven one day. But then she’d go dancing, and the battle returned, bearing down on her so much, she’d fast for days, growing physically weak and sometimes ill, and then cry to God and feel Him close, and her spirits would lift.  

And then the next day would come, and she’d see herself a sinner again—never good enough!—and the wrestle continued. For years. In moments her conscious felt clear before God, she longed for death, just to be with Him, and be free.  

When she was eighteen, someone gave her a pamphlet called “The Great Duty of Believing on the Son of God.”  

The Son of God. Jesus. Hester read the pamphlet… could what she read be true?  

She tossed and turned that night, waking before dawn, and paced her bedroom in the dark, wringing her hands in agony. Could it be true? Had Jesus accomplished for her what she had been desperately trying to accomplish herself? She wanted nothing more than to know she was His child, but she was unworthy… an impossibility.  

The weight of her struggle forced her to her knees, hopeless. And then God spoke very clearly to her: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).  

“Lord, I know that is thy word, and I can depend on it. But what is faith? O show me how to believe…” 

“Cast all thy care upon him, for he careth for thee” (1 Peter 5:7). 

“Lord, dost thou care for me…?” 

This was the beginning of endless conversations between Hester and God. He speaking to her, she responding to Him.  

Relationship had begun.  

Grasping the unconditional love of Jesus seeped into her body, heart and soul, and loosed her chains, and her undying love for Him made her want nothing more than to be with Him.  

But the devil continued to spear lies at her, threatening to bring her down, but God’s constant rebuttals always won out, and at times, His love and sacrifice for her pierced her so deeply that she’d buckle to her knees in praise and adoration… and conversation. Always conversation with Jesus. His glory filled her soul! Many nights she’d stay awake in prayer, never wanting to stop the communion with her Lord, and forever longing to go to heaven and be with him.  

Dying became her greatest wish. 

After Hester married Mr. James Rogers, they shared God’s love wherever he preached, and she spent the rest of her days communing with Jesus on her knees, reading His word, fighting spiritual battles, and praying for miracles. She beautifully shared His love and forgiveness with those around her, including many on their deathbeds, seeing them awaken to the truth and experience Jesus as they took their last breaths. 

She died at age thirty-nine, after giving birth. 

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17, NIV)!

Hester Ann Rogers was born in 1756 In Cheshire, England. In 1784, she married Mr. James Rogers, a Methodist preacher, and they moved about evangelizing. Everywhere they went, their churches grew.

Hester was known as a “Mother in Israel.” She led classes in her husband’s churches, where she’d teach about prayer and devotion, and the glorious love and forgiveness of Jesus. Her classes would grow so large, her husband would have to split the classes up, and Hester would begin again with a smaller group, repeating this over and over again wherever they went, blessing many souls.

Her Greatest Wish

Hester Rogers was a studious young girl who revered God, always conducting herself honorably. Her father, a religious, strict clergyman, imparted many rules to obey within the home. Daily Bible readings were to occur every day, and she should never miss her morning and evening prayers, which were like memorized prayers repeated over and over again. These things became routine to Hester.

When she was six years old, she went to bed one night and suddenly realized she’d forgotten to say her evening prayers. The guilt of this weighed so heavy on her conscious that she trembled in fear that God would strike her in that moment and doom her to hell, even imagining the devil appeared at her bedside to snatch her away, causing her to cry out in fear and terror and her parents to come running to her rescue.

At age nine, Hester’s father became ill. She sat near his bedside, and he told her to never read novels, never to dance, and never to play or visit with friends, as these were sins that could take hold and overcome her. He died not long after.

Sometime after this, her mother surprisingly permitted Hester to learn to dance. She fell in love with it. And thus began a perpetual battle in her heart—dancing, repenting, dancing, repenting, back and forth, feeling a constant contrition pressing on her to her very core. How could she ever be good enough to belong to God? For years she would carry her burden to Him and beg of Him to help her, but then she would take it back up again and continue bearing it alone.

Eventually an idea sprung up: if Hester wrote down her good deeds versus her bad deeds, it may give hope. She did this and saw the good outweighed the bad! Maybe she would go to heaven one day. But then she’d go dancing, and the battle returned, bearing down on her so much, she’d fast for days, growing physically weak and sometimes ill, and then cry to God and feel Him close, and her spirits would lift.

And then the next day would come, and she’d see herself a sinner again—never good enough!—and the wrestle continued. For years. In moments her conscious felt clear before God, she longed for death, just to be with Him, and be free.

When she was eighteen, someone gave her a pamphlet called “The Great Duty of Believing on the Son of God.”

The Son of God. Jesus. Hester read the pamphlet… could what she read be true?

She tossed and turned that night, waking before dawn, and paced her bedroom in the dark, wringing her hands in agony. Could it be true? Had Jesus accomplished for her what she had been desperately trying to accomplish herself? She wanted nothing more than to know she was His child, but she was unworthy… an impossibility.

The weight of her struggle forced her to her knees, hopeless. And then God spoke very clearly to her: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved” (Acts 16:31).

“Lord, I know that is thy word, and I can depend on it. But what is faith? O show me how to believe…”

“Cast all thy care upon him, for he careth for thee” (1 Peter 5:7).

“Lord, dost thou care for me…?”

This was the beginning of endless conversations between Hester and God. He speaking to her, she responding to Him.

Relationship had begun.

Grasping the unconditional love of Jesus seeped into her body, heart and soul, and loosed her chains, and her undying love for Him made her want nothing more than to be with Him.

But the devil continued to spear lies at her, threatening to bring her down, but God’s constant rebuttals always won out, and at times, His love and sacrifice for her pierced her so deeply that she’d buckle to her knees in praise and adoration… and conversation. Always conversation with Jesus. His glory filled her soul! Many nights she’d stay awake in prayer, never wanting to stop the communion with her Lord, and forever longing to go to heaven and be with him.

Dying became her greatest wish.

After Hester married Mr. James Rogers, they shared God’s love wherever he preached, and she spent the rest of her days communing with Jesus on her knees, reading His word, fighting spiritual battles, and praying for miracles. She beautifully shared His love and forgiveness with those around her, including many on their deathbeds, seeing them awaken to the truth and experience Jesus as they took their last breaths.

She died at age thirty-nine, after giving birth.

“For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:17, NIV)!