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Frances Ridley Havergal
Most of us are acquainted with Frances Ridley Havergal, poet and hymn-writer. The words “Take my life and let it be, consecrated, Lord to Thee” are from one of her most well known hymns. Edwin and Lillian Harvey have quoted her in several of their compilations and they have written about her in Volume Two of the They Knew Their God Series.

She is also included in the first volume of The Call Back Series, Illness. Frances knew well what it was to suffer pain and she “calls back” to us to remind us that pain often brings us nearer our Lord if we use it rightly. The following poem sums it up for us:

“I take this pain, Lord Jesus
From Thine own hand,
The strength to bear it bravely
Thou wilt command.
I am too weak for effort
So let me rest,
In hush of sweet submission,
On Thine own breast.

“I take this pain, Lord Jesus,
As proof indeed
That Thou art watching closely
My truest need:
That Thou, my Good Physician,
Art watching still;
That all Thine own good pleasure
Thou wilt fulfill.

“‘Tis Thy dear hand, O Savior
That presseth sore,
The hand that bears the nail-prints
Forevermore.
And now beneath its shadow,
Hidden by Thee,
The pressure only tells me
Thou lovest me.”
—Frances Ridley Havergal.
Written in severe pain, Sunday afternoon, October 8th, 1876, at the Pension Wengen, The Alps, Switzerland.

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