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Daughters of God
them. When he was come, they brought him into the upper chamber:
and all the widows stood by him weeping, and shewing the coats and
garments which Dorcas made, while she was with them.” In view of
the life of service that Dorcas had lived, it is little wonder that they
mourned....
The apostle’s heart was touched with sympathy as he beheld their
sorrow. Then, directing that the weeping friends be sent from the
room, he kneeled down and prayed fervently to God to restore Dorcas
to life and health. Turning to the body, he said, “Tabitha, arise. And
she opened her eyes: and when she saw Peter, she sat up.” Dorcas
had been of great service to the church, and God saw fit to bring her
back from the land of the enemy.—
The Acts of the Apostles, 131, 132
(1911)
.
Lydia
This chapter is based on
Acts 16:14, 15, 40
.
Lydia was a merchant woman from Thyatira who traded in expen-
sive purple cloth. She also was a worshiper of God and extended her
hospitality to the disciples
.
[73]
The time had come for the gospel to be proclaimed beyond the
confines of Asia Minor.... The call was imperative, admitting of no
delay.... [said Luke,] “We came with a straight course to Samothracia,
and the next day to Neapolis; and from thence to Philippi, which is the
chief city of that part of Macedonia, and a colony.”
“On the Sabbath,” Luke continues, “we went out of the city by
a river side, where prayer was wont to be made; and we sat down,
and spake unto the women which resorted thither. And a certain
woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which
worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened.” Lydia
received the truth gladly. She and her household were converted
and baptized, and she entreated the apostles to make her house their
home.—
The Acts of the Apostles, 211, 212 (1911)
.
God’s Spirit can only enlighten the understanding of those who
are willing to be enlightened. We read that God opened the ears
of Lydia, so that she attended to the message spoken by Paul. To
declare the whole counsel of God and all that was essential for Lydia