The Joy of Total Surrender
In modern culture, the word "surrender" is equated with defeat, loss, and humiliation. But in the vocabulary of the Christian faith, surrender is the gateway to supreme joy, absolute liberty, and divine purpose. No hymn articulates this truth with more sparkling clarity than Frances Ridley Havergal's "Take My Life and Let It Be."
The Gifted Poet of Astley
Born in Worcestershire, England, in 1836, Frances Ridley Havergal was the daughter of an Anglican rector and hymn composer. Gifted with extraordinary intellectual and musical abilities, young Frances could read the Bible fluently by age four, mastered French, German, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and possessed a concert-level singing voice and piano prowess.
Yet Frances found no lasting satisfaction in worldly applause. In 1873, she experienced a profound spiritual awakening regarding the beauty of full consecration, resolving that every talent, ounce of energy, and penny she possessed belonged irrevocably to her Savior.
The Five Days at Areley House (1874)
In February 1874, Frances was invited to stay for five days at Areley House in Worcestershire, a home containing ten persons, several of whom were not believers, while others were hesitant, lukewarm Christians.
Upon arriving, Frances was seized with a holy burden for the household. In her diary, she later recorded:
"I went for a little visit of five days. There were ten persons in the house, some unconverted and long prayed for, some converted, but not rejoicing Christians. He gave me the prayer: 'Lord, give me all in this house!' And He did!"
Over the next five days, Frances gently conversed with each person, playing the piano, reading scriptures, and praying late into the night. By the final evening of her stay, a wonderful revival had swept through the house. Every single person had yielded their heart to Jesus Christ in living faith.
Writing the Hymn at Midnight
Frances went to her bedroom on that final night, too overjoyed to sleep. Falling to her knees in adoration, she spent the midnight hours in praise. During those sacred moments, line after line of poetry began pouring into her heart, detailing every aspect of a human life yielded to the Master:
"Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.
Take my hands, and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet, and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee."
Practicing What She Preached
Frances Havergal refused to write words she was not willing to live out. When she wrote the stanza:
"Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be
Filled with messages from Thee."
She immediately turned down lucrative offers to perform secular concerts, singing henceforth exclusively for sacred services, hospitals, and rescue missions.
And when she reached the fourth verse:
"Take my silver and my gold;
Not a mite would I withhold."
Frances packaged up all fifty pieces of her fine jewelry—including precious heirloom bracelets, brooches, and rings—and shipped them to the Church Missionary Society, writing in a letter to a friend:
"I don't think I ever packed a box with such sheer joy. I had no idea I possessed so much vanity! Now it is all gone to the Lord, to preach the Gospel to those who have never heard."
The Last Words on Earth
Frances Havergal died in Wales in 1879 at the young age of forty-two. As her family gathered around her bed, she asked that the thirty-second chapter of Isaiah be read aloud. Looking upward with radiant eyes, she attempted to sing one final hymn of praise, breathed deeply, and entered into the joy of her Lord.
Included in Sacred Songs and Solos as Hymn #589, "Take My Life and Let It Be" remains the benchmark of Christian consecration—a vibrant call to offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing unto God (Romans 12:1).