“Though Frances R. Havergal wrote the hymn, Take My Life and Let it Be, Consecrated, Lord, to Thee, in 1874, it wasn’t till 1878 that the lines were put in print. When she read the verse:
Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
She was suddenly convicted of inconsistency. She possessed an unusual collection of fine jewelry, mostly by gift or inheritance, and an unusually lovely jewelry box. She packed the jewelry box with every piece of jewelry except for half a dozen pieces, which were special memorials of her loved ones, and sent it to her church missionary society. She also included a check to cover the value of the jewels she kept. She testifies, “I never packed a box with such pleasure.”
Frances R. Havergal as recounted bu Les B. Flynn in Your God & Your Gold (Williamsport, PA: Hearthstone, 1973) 61.