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Appendix A
Counsel to a Depressed Middle-aged Woman
My mind goes to you, Martha We want to see you, and we want
to see you trusting fully in the precious Saviour. He loves you, who
gave His life for you because He valued your soul. I had a dream not
long since. I was going through a garden and you were by my side.
You kept saying, “Look at this unsightly shrub, this deformed tree,
that poor stunted rosebush. This makes me feel bad, for they seem to
represent my life and the relation I stand in before God.”
I thought a stately form walked just before us and said, “Gather the
roses and the lilies and the pinks, and leave the thistles and unsightly
shrubs, and bruise not the soul that Christ has in His choice keeping.”
I awoke; I slept again and the same dream was repeated. And I
awoke and slept, and the third time it was repeated. Now I want you
to consider this and put away your distrust, your worrying, your fears.
Look away from yourself to Jesus, look away from your husband to
Jesus. God has spoken to you words of encouragement. Grasp them,
act upon them, walk by faith and not by sight. “Faith is the substance
of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (
Hebrews 11:1
).
Jesus holds His hand beneath you. Jesus will not suffer the enemy
to overcome you. Jesus will give you the victory. He has the virtue;
He has the righteousness. You may look to yourself to find it and may
well despair in doing this because it is not there. Jesus has it. It is
yours by faith because you love God and keep His commandments.
Do not listen to Satan’s lies, but recount God’s promises. Gather
the roses and the lilies and the pinks. Talk of the promises of God. Talk
faith. Trust in God, for He is your only hope. He is my only hope. I
have tremendous battles with Satan’s temptations to discouragements,
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but I will not yield an inch. I will not give Satan an advantage over my
body or my mind.