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Testimonies for the Church Volume 1
the Lord would bless them in basket and in store, in health as well as
in grace and spiritual strength. And I felt that a special blessing would
follow them. Though sickness has since come into their dwelling, yet
I learn by Brother Root that they now enjoy better health than before.
And among the items of temporal prosperity he reports that his wheat
fields have produced twenty-seven bushels to the acre, and some forty,
while the average yield of his neighbors’ fields has been only seven
bushels per acre.
January 29, 1867, we left Wright, and rode to Greenville, Mont-
calm County, a distance of forty miles. It was the most severely cold
day of the winter, and we were glad to find a shelter from the cold
and storm at Brother Maynard’s. This dear family welcomed us to
their hearts and to their home. We remained in this vicinity six weeks,
laboring with the churches at Greenville and Orleans, and making
Brother Maynard’s hospitable home our headquarters.
The Lord gave me freedom in speaking to the people; in every
effort made I realized His sustaining power. And as I became fully
convinced that I had a testimony for the people, which I could bear
to them in connection with the labors of my husband, my faith was
strengthened that he would yet be raised to health to labor with ac-
ceptance in the cause and work of God. His labors were received
by the people, and he was a great help to me in the work. Without
him I could accomplish but little, but with his help, in the strength
of God, I could do the work assigned me. The Lord sustained him
in every effort which he put forth. As he ventured, trusting in God,
regardless of his feebleness, he gained in strength and improved with
every effort. As I realized that my husband was regaining physical
and mental vigor, my gratitude was unbounded in view of the prospect
that I should again be unfettered to engage anew and more earnestly
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in the work of God, standing by the side of my husband, we laboring
unitedly in the closing work for God’s people. Previous to his being
stricken down, the position he occupied in the office confined him
there the greater part of the time. And as I could not travel without him
I was necessarily kept at home much of the time. I felt that God would
now prosper him while he labored in word and doctrine, and devoted
himself more especially to the work of preaching. Others could do
the labor in the office, and we were settled in our convictions that he
would never again be confined, but be free to travel with me that we