Chapter 30—Self-Caring Ministers
Brother and Sister F,
I have been shown the great mercy and infinite love of God in
giving you another trial. There will be a positive necessity of your
holding fast to the mighty Healer, that you may have physical and
spiritual strength. You have poor health, but you are in danger of
thinking that you are in a worse condition than you really are. You
have not had power of endurance, because you have not cherished a
patient, hopeful, courageous spirit. You yield to infirmities instead
of rising above them. Temptations will assail you on the right hand
and on the left, but by patient continuance in well-doing you may
overcome the defects in your characters. I was shown that your feet
had indeed taken hold on perdition, but God did not wholly forsake
either of you. His matchless mercy in giving you another opportunity
to prove your loyalty to Him calls upon you to walk with great humility
and to guard self. You have petted and indulged yourselves so much
that you need now to work in an opposite direction.
You, Brother F, have been very selfish, and this has been con-
temptible in the sight of God. You and your wife have stumbled again
and again over this evil. Your powers have been greatly dwarfed by
self-gratification and self-indulgence. Neither of you is deficient in
natural reason and judgment; but you have followed inclination rather
than the path of duty, and have failed to repress the wrong traits of
character and to strengthen weak moral power.
Brother F, you are naturally an impatient, fretful, exacting man at
home; and after a short acquaintance you show this out in new places.
You frequently talk in an impatient, overbearing manner. This must all
be repented of. You may now begin anew. God has in His boundless
mercy given you another chance. Your wife has much in herself to
contend against, and you should be on your guard that you do not
throw her upon Satan’s ground. Fretting, faultfinding, and making
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strong statements must be given up. What time have you set to gain the
victory over your perverse will and the defects in your character? With
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