Hear Joni tell stories about heroes of the faith.
SHAUNA: Welcome to Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. We’re celebrating heroes of the faith!
JONI: But what makes this group of heroes different, is that they all have disabilities. Believe me, as a woman in a wheelchair myself, I need these examples. I need the stories of brothers and sisters in Christ who persevered through pain and discomfort, people who helped shape the face of missions; people who wrote some of the most beautiful, wonderful lyrics in our hymn books. As a quadriplegic, I am inspired by these saints of old. And the first one I want to tell you about is Frances Havergal.
Born in 1836, Frances was the last of six children born to an English Christian couple. But she was no ordinary child. At the age of four, Frances could read the Bible, and she had learned how to write. By her teens, she was fluent in German and French and nearly fluent in Italian. She also studied Hebrew, Greek, Latin. Not only was Frances brilliant, she had a great love for Jesus, His Word, and His Church. And according to her sister, Frances memorized [get this] the entire New Testament except the book of Acts. She also memorized all of the Minor Prophets, Isaiah, and the Psalms – oh, my goodness. In addition to her Bible studies, Frances Havergal taught a Sunday school class in her father’s church for 14 years. And every student mattered to her, so much so, that written in her roll book, she kept the names, birthdays, and something about their home condition; also something that impressed her about each child.
But what Frances is most known for are her compositions, including the ever popular “Take My Life and Let It Be.” She gained this talent from her father who also composed hundreds of songs. Growing up, Sunday evenings became family concerts to raise money for churches. And although Frances penned many poems and songs for most of her brilliant life, you ought to know this woman struggled with all kinds of illnesses. Sadly, she died in her early 40s of peritonitis [an infection in her abdominal cavity]. But even though she wrestled constantly against pain, listen to what Frances said about it. She wrote:
“Pain is God’s chiseling, it’s His engraving tool, producing the likeness to Jesus for which we long. One must pass through pain for oneself before realizing the actual blessedness of suffering. It gives one a deeper feeling of weakness and helplessness [a lesson which we are all slow to learn in health], and of the great nothingness of earthly aims and comforts, as well as the fleetingness and unsatisfactory effects of everything except Christ. Pain drives you to Him each moment; you can’t bear it even one minute alone, but you must lean on and cling to Him. And there, you find that Christ is tender and gracious, and His promises are precious, and that His presence is a reality even if you don’t sense it!”
Well, I tell you, never were truer words spoken. And again, because I struggle with pain in my wheelchair, I think you can see why Frances Havergal is, to me, a real hero of the faith. She has helped pave the way for the rest of us to draw deeper into the fellowship of sharing in the physical anguish of Jesus Christ. So, take a minute and flip open a hymnal today and read one of her hymns. And you too, like me, may well find yourself saying to the Lord, take my life and let it be consecrated Lord to thee.
SHAUNA: And listening friend, stories like this, about heroes of the faith; they’re meant to inspire and encourage us, so retell Joni’s story. Or send your friends to joniradio.org where they can listen to this program, and so much more! Be sure to visit joniradio.org today.
© Joni and Friends