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A Thankful Heart, February 6
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Ephesians 5:20
.
It would please the Lord if you would make an effort to forget yourself.
Begin to thank the Lord for your home and your pleasant surroundings, and
the many temporal blessings He gives you. By returning thanks to the Lord
for His goodness, you can do something for the One who has done everything
for you. Contemplate the depths of the compassion that the Saviour felt for
you. For you He gave His life, suffering the cruel death of the cross. Can
you not praise the Lord for this? If you will hide your life in Christ, He will
receive you.
If you will show that you have a working faith, by trying every day to
exercise your will power, your faculties will gain strength. I know this by
experience. I remember in my own case how my faculties recovered their
pliability as I tried to exercise them. Will you try to move about, and be
cheerful in spirit? Put your trust in Jesus. Have faith in Him, and be pliant
in His hands. You will receive great blessing by making a change in your
habits....
For eleven months after going to Australia, I suffered from inflammatory
rheumatism. I was unable to lift my feet from the floor without suffering
great pain....
During those eleven months of suffering ...I would not give up. My right
arm, from the elbow down, was whole, so that I could use the pen, and I
wrote twenty-five hundred pages of letter paper for publication. During this
period, I had the most terrible suffering of my life....
But to all this there is a cheerful side. My Saviour seemed to be close
beside me. I felt His sacred presence in my heart, and I was so thankful.
These months of suffering were the happiest months of my life, because of
the companionship of my Saviour.... His love filled my heart. All through my
sickness, His love, His tender compassion, was my comfort....
Look unto Jesus, your pitying, loving Saviour. If you cast your helpless
soul on Christ, He will bring joy and peace to your soul. He will be your
crown of rejoicing, your exceeding great reward.—
Letter 34, February 6,
1907
, to the wife of a conference administrator in Australia.
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