“Don’t lose heart.” Those three words were Paul’s rallying cry to his friends in the early church. Although the fledgling church was being persecuted, their mentor urged them not to grow weary or give up the gospel race they’d been appointed to run—there was too much at stake. (See Gal. 6:9; 2 Thess. 3:13; 2 Cor. 4:1,16.)
Ministry leader, is your heart faint from unending challenges and frustrations? Is your courage waning? Have you considered resigning from your calling? Don’t lose sight of the mission. Hear the words of Paul for you: Don’t lose heart.
If it feels easier to pass the podium to someone else, I invite you to put away your pressures momentarily and take the hand of another woman who overcame ministry obstacles and found hope to press on. Frances Ridley Havergal (1836–1879) was a British hymn writer who penned songs of Christian devotion like “Take My Life and Let It Be.”
This persevering servant was much more than a prolific writer and poet. Frances was a gifted singer, accomplished musician, and beloved Bible teacher with a heart for the Word. The testimony of her life will infuse fresh vigor into your weak hands and feeble knees.
Deeply Rooted Devotion
Young Frances (“Fanny”) began reading the Bible at age four. She would eventually memorize large portions of it (the New Testament Gospels and Epistles, the Old Testament Psalms, Isaiah, Minor Prophets, and Revelation). Hers was not an intellectual, head-only faith. Her trust in the Lord worked its way down into her heart and out through her hands. She was disciplined in her daily devotions and a lifelong learner of the Word.
Fanny was not only devoted to the Bible but also to prayer. Her mother sensed an unusual giftedness in her daughter and taught her to pray for God to prepare her for the future He had planned. Her prayers weren’t only for herself; she kept a running ledger of every student she taught in Sunday School. Fanny, or Miss Havergal as her students called her, devoted herself to consistent prayer for each one. Only heaven knows the impact of this woman’s earnest intercession.
Tried and Won
Frances knew suffering from a young age and experienced trials until her death at age forty-two. She was afflicted with “delicate health,” which caused a lifelong battle with chronic pain and weakness. By age twenty-three, doctors suggested that writing would compromise her fragile state. They recommended she choose between writing and living. (Can you imagine being told to choose between ministry and life?)
Ten years passed before her first book, The Ministry of Song, was published, but Frances praised God’s wisdom for the extended delay. She believed anyone used by God can expect a disruption of their plans.
In 1865, when she became too ill to write for a season, Frances learned to wait on God with open hands. “I am held back from much I wanted to do in every way,” she reflected. “Perhaps this check is sent that I may consecrate what I do more entirely . . . God’s crosses are often made of most unexpected and strange material.”1
Frances willingly accepted that life presents crosses which God intends for a beautiful purpose. She saw the ministry interruption as a training ground to be more fully consecrated in her service. Faith in God’s providential plan enables servants to bear their tailor-made crosses.
God’s providence was exceptionally clear when Frances tried to destroy the lyrics of a poem she’d written, “I Gave My Life for Thee.” Though she threw the words into a fireplace, the paper wasn’t burned and the hymn was eventually published.
Later, there would be more fiery trials: a climbing accident that almost took her life, an eight-month bout with typhoid fever, and a fire that destroyed the offices of her British publisher, and with it, the manuscript and plates of Songs of Grace and Glory. Although Frances was forced to recreate the words and music from scratch, she thanked God for giving her another lesson to learn.
Deeper Surrender
Frances journaled about a turning point in her Christian life after reading a booklet, All For Jesus. It led her to pray for greater consecration and usefulness to God. Total surrender became the secret of her spiritual victory.
On Advent Sunday in 1873, Fanny finally understood the blessedness of true consecration.
I saw it as a flash of electric light . . . There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness . . . First, I was shown that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin and it was made plain to me that He who cleansed me had power to keep me clean; so I just utterly yielded myself to Him, and utterly trusted Him to keep me.2
Following absolute surrender, she described:
The constant experiencing of the fruit of the Spirit. There was an undiminished and unchanging love for her Savior and others. There was the joy that ‘lifted Fanny’s whole life into sunshine’ . . . There was the peace of God that passes understanding, flowing onward, ever deepening and widening under the teaching of God the Holy Spirit.3
Two months later, when her publisher in America went bankrupt, Frances was still able to sing, “Thy will be done!” Nothing Frances had lost could steal her joy: she found God to be faithful and true.
Frances knew the truth: “Leaving everything to Him is so inexpressibly sweet, and surely He does arrange so much better than we could for ourselves, when we leave it all to Him.”4 Just before her death, Frances revised the final proofs of her last book, Kept for the Master’s Use, calling Christians to live a wholly dedicated life to Jesus Christ.
Frances Ridley Havergal endured hardship, but she finished strong. Here’s what this forerunner of the faith might say to us today.
4 Encouragements to Sustain the Fainthearted
1. God’s Word and prayer are the signposts of a sustained ministry.
Ministry will only run so far devoid of the Lord’s power pulsing in and through it. Without admitting your true neediness through prayer, your efforts alone will fall short and fizzle over time. A ministry with longevity and power is grounded in the Word and fueled by prayer. Is your heart tethered to the Lord through consistent and prayerful meditation on God’s Word?
2. Carry your cross with fortitude.
Carrying your cross means you understand ministry isn’t designed to go smoothly. The disruptions, delays, and obstacles are a necessary part of God’s plan. A ministry servant who is faithful to the end will embrace her cross to follow Jesus wherever He goes. She will deny her fleshly ambitions and release her preconceived ideas of what ministry should look like. Is there a cross in your life that you are resisting?
3. Seek advice from wise counselors.
Surround yourself with mature women who know you well and can help you discern the Lord’s direction. Frances didn’t quit when she was discouraged from continuing in ministry. Don’t concede to naysayers who, though well-meaning, speak contrary to God’s plan. What voices are you listening to?
4. Absolute surrender to the will of God yields joy and fruitfulness.
No matter where ministry takes you or how hard it becomes, as Frances discovered, you can live under the sunshine of God’s smile when you’re surrendered and broken before Him. There’s no sweeter position than to be fully His! Your Father wants all of you, not just the token parts you relinquish control of. Hold nothing back from God, and you’ll find your ministry imprinted with the unmistakable marks of His joy, peace, and fruitfulness. Have you surrendered your all to Jesus? Is anything holding you back from taking this step?
Ever, Only, All for Thee
Friend, if you’re feeling fainthearted today, let me assure you that God will give you exactly what you need to finish the race. In due time, you’ll start reaping what you’ve sown. Allow these words of truth to drip into your veins like an IV.
Let us not lose heart in doing good, for in due time we will reap if we do not grow weary. (Gal. 6:9 NASB 1995)
At multiple junctures of Frances Havergal’s life, she could have lost heart and given up. But there were no excuses from this devoted servant of God. She pressed on despite obstacles and defeat, and her life produced the lovely fruit of lifelong perseverance. With her dying breath, Frances finished strong for God and found Him to be worth every sacrifice. She gave everything she had to Him and never looked back. So can you. Let the words of her most famous hymn encourage you to forge ahead:
Take myself, and I will be
ever, only, all for Thee,
ever, only, all for Thee.5
1Warren W. Wiersbe, 50 People Every Christian Should Know (Baker Books, 2009), 160.
2V. Raymond Edman, They Found the Secret (Zondervan, 1984), 89–90.
3Ibid., 90.
4Ibid., 91.
5“Take My Life and Let It Be,” Hymnal.net, accessed September 16, 2024, https://www.hymnal.net/en/hymn/h/445.