Francis Ridley Havergal

Dear Boys and Girls,

I wonder how many of you know the name of Frances Ridley Havergal. I'm sure some of you may know some of the hymns she wrote, for Frances Ridley Havergal was a hymn-writer.

Have you ever sung, “Who is on the Lord's side”? or “Golden Harps are sounding”? Well, these and many other great hymns were written by Frances Ridley Havergal, and, in the hymns that she wrote she always loved to speak about the Lord Jesus Christ and all that He meant to her.

It wasn't always so, however, boys and girls, for the only thing that Frances Ridley Havergal really seamed to love when she was a little girl was her parents' garden where she used to spend most of her time, looking at the flowers, or sitting under the trees. She knew a great deal about the Bible, and when she was only about eight years of age she could repeat whole chapters of the Bible without making one mistake. But, although she knew the Bible, she didn't know the Lord Jesus Christ as her Saviour, and so, she had no real love for Him, but only for her garden.

One day when young Frances was reading some hymns written by a man called William Cowper, she came across these words –

“My Father made them all.”

She had always believed that God had made the world, and all things in the world, and all the things that grew in her garden. However, the words that struck young Frances Ridley Havergal were the two words at the beginning of the line – “My Father made them all.” Even in her young life she began to realise that, although God was her Creator – although He had made all things – still withall, God was not really her “heavenly” Father. Before God could really be her Father, she would have to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ with all her heart.

This she did, boys and girls; and every one who would have God as their real heavenly Father must believe in Christ His Son.