Fortitude in Affliction

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Dear Brother and Sister: When the last mail was enveloped and sent to the office, I had six pages written that, by some mistake of mine, were left out of the envelope. . . .

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You will not forget that I am doing considerable writing. Every mail has taken from one to two hundred pages from my hand, and most of it has been written either as I am now propped up on the bed by pillows, half lying or half sitting, or bolstered up sitting in an uncomfortable chair.

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It is very painful to my hip and to the lower part of my spine to sit up. If such easy chairs were to be found in this country as you have at the Sanitarium, one would be readily purchased by me, if it cost thirty dollars. . . . It is with great weariness that I can sit erect and hold up my head. I must rest it against the back of the chair on the pillows, half reclining. This is my condition just now.

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But I am not at all discouraged. I feel that I am sustained daily. In the long weary hours of the night when sleep has been out of the question, I have devoted much time to prayer; and when every nerve seemed to be shrieking with pain, when if I considered myself, it seemed I should go frantic, the peace of Christ has come into my heart in such measure that I have been filled with gratitude and thanksgiving. I know that Jesus loves me and I love Jesus. Some nights I have slept three hours; a few nights four hours and much of the time only two, and yet in these long, Australian nights, in the darkness, all seems light about me, and I enjoy sweet communion with God.

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When I first found myself in a state of helplessness I deeply regretted having crossed the broad waters. Why was I not in America? Why at such expense was I in this country? Time and again I could have buried my face in the bed quilts and had a good cry. But I did not long indulge in the luxury of tears. I said to myself, «Ellen G. White, what do you mean? Have you not come to Australia because you felt that it was your duty to go where the Conference judged it best for you to go? Has not this been your practice?» I said, «Yes.» «Then why do you feel almost forsaken and discouraged? Is not this the enemy’s work?» I said, «I believe it is.» I dried my tears as quickly as possible and said, «It is enough; I will not look on the dark side any more. Live or die, I commit the keeping of my soul to Him who died for me.»

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I then believed that the Lord would do all things well, and during this eight months of helplessness, I have not had any despondency or doubt. I now look at this matter as a part of the Lord’s great plan, for the good of His people here in this country, and for those in America, and for my good. I cannot explain why or how, but I believe it. And I am happy in my affliction. I can trust my heavenly Father. I will not doubt His love. I have an ever-watchful guardian day and night, and I will praise the Lord; for His praise is upon my lips because it comes from a heart full of gratitude.— Letter 18a, 1892 .

NBL.026.001

Parents and Children Many parents who have believed the truth for years have failed to train their children in the way they should go. Notwithstanding all the light that has shone on them, they have indulged their children, making them mere household pets, mere idols. . . .

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Too often parents allow their children to grow up in ignorance of household labor. To save their children the least discomfort, the father and the mother make themselves the household drudges. They get up early in the morning to build a fire and cook breakfast. While they are busy with their daily cares, they allow their dear, lazy children to lie in bed, calling them only in time to eat that which has been prepared by the labor of others. They consult the wishes of their children and excuse them if they are not up early.

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What a delusion parents must be under who pursue so unwise a course in training children! In thus making everything secondary to the supposed comfort of their children, unwise parents deprive them of the capacity for enjoying even this life. Parents should train their daughters to bear life’s burdens, that they may be well qualified to act their part as faithful, judicious, ingenious, economical housekeepers. In afterlife they will appreciate the training that taught them to bear burdens.

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Many girls from sixteen to twenty years of age are unskilled in cookery or in any other kind of domestic labor. These girls can eat, sleep, and dress; they can use their fingers in doing fancy-work; but they claim that labor over a washtub makes them sick. Cooking they do not understand. «Mother prefers to cook,» they say. Why does she?—Because her daughters have not chosen to help her. They have not been trained to enjoy the doing of home duties and are as unfitted to become wives as are babies.

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Among us are hard-working men, men who earn large wages, but who are always financially cramped and often in debt. What is the cause?—Nothing more, nothing less, than this: Their wives are not practical housekeepers. In their youth they did not gain the experience that they should have gained. They are not skilled cooks. They waste much—enough to supply another family. Yet their own families are not half provided with nourishing food. They think they must use canned meat, or something else already prepared. If in their girlhood such wives had been taught how to make a little go as far as possible, they could prepare palatable, nourishing food from simple, inexpensive ingredients.

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Such girls seldom realize and remedy their deficiencies, and therefore, when they become mothers, they are unprepared to educate their children aright. They cannot give to others the knowledge that they themselves do not possess. Because of a lack of care, skill, economy, and experience in household matters, both mothers and children waste much. Thus they spend all that the father earns. The hard-working husband and father is always cramped financially. Because he never has at his command means to aid the cause of God, he is discouraged.

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These cases are not rare. On every hand they are to be found. And many an honest, truehearted man has become so discouraged and desperate that in order to lighten his load he has been led to practice dishonesty.— MS 21, 1902 .