“For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” -Galatians 2:19-20

This is from a devotional. I want to share as we begin the new year to renew our lives and consecrate to Jesus that we belong to Him. We all struggle but here is a testimony to encourage us. Frances Ridley Havergal received Christ at a young age but struggled for years with Christian victory. “I had hoped that a kind of tableland had been reached in my journey, where I might walk awhile in the light, without the weary succession of rock and hollow, crag and morass, stumbling and striving; but I seem born back into all the old difficulties of the way, with many sin- made aggravations. I think the great root of my trouble and alienation is that I do not make an unreserved surrender of myself to God; until this is done I shall know no peace. I am sure of it.”

She struggled throughout her twenties and thirties, pulled in one direction by the acclaim of great London crowds who loved her singing and in another direction by the Holy Spirit. Then one day, at age thirty-six, she read a booklet entitled “All For Jesus,” which stressed the importance of making Christ King of every corner and cubicle of one’s life. Frances made a fresh, complete consecration of God. Years later her sister asked her about it, and she replied: “Yes, it was on Advent Sunday, December 2, 1873,