Chapter 49—Grief
Breaks Down the Life-forces—Grief, anxiety, discontent, re-
morse, guilt, distrust, all tend to break down the life-forces and to
invite decay and death.... Courage, hope, faith, sympathy, love, pro-
mote health and prolong life.—
The Ministry of Healing, 241
(1905).
Impairs Circulation—Sadness deadens the circulation in the
blood vessels and nerves and also retards the action of the liver. It
hinders the process of digestion and of nutrition, and has a tendency
to dry up the marrow [interior substance] of the whole system.—Lt 1,
1883.
Cannot Remedy a Single Evil—While grief and anxiety cannot
remedy a single evil, they can do great harm; but cheerfulness and
hope, while they brighten the pathway of others, “are life unto those
that find them, and health to all their flesh” (
Proverbs 4:22
).—ST, Feb
12, 1885. (
The Adventist Home, 431
.)
Every Situation Provided For—We are not to let the future, with
its hard problems, its unsatisfying prospects, make our hearts faint,
our knees tremble, our hands hang down. “Let him take hold of My
strength,” says the Mighty One, “that he may make peace with Me;
and he shall make peace with Me” (
Isaiah 27:5
). Those who surrender
[459]
their lives to His guidance and to His service will never be placed
in a position for which He has not made provision. Whatever our
situation, if we are doers of His word, we have a Guide to direct our
way; whatever our perplexity, we have a sure Counselor; whatever our
sorrow, bereavement, or loneliness, we have a sympathizing Friend.—
The Ministry of Healing, 248, 249
(1905).
Anticipating Trouble Doubles Burdens—We are in a world of
suffering. Difficulty, trial, and sorrow await us all along the way to the
heavenly home. But there are many who make life’s burdens doubly
heavy by continually anticipating trouble. If they meet with adversity
or disappointment, they think that everything is going to ruin, that
theirs is the hardest lot of all, that they are surely coming to want.
71