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Testimonies for the Church Volume 3
are convinced beyond a doubt that they cannot do much for the honor
of God and the good of souls.
There are men who flatter themselves that they might do something
great and good if they were only circumstanced differently, while they
make no use of the faculties they already have by working in the
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positions where Providence has placed them. Man can make his
circumstances, but circumstances should never make the man. Man
should seize circumstances as his instruments with which to work. He
should master circumstances, but should never allow circumstances
to master him. Individual independence and individual power are the
qualities now needed. Individual character need not be sacrificed, but
it should be modulated, refined, elevated.
I have been shown that it is my husband’s duty to lay off the
responsibilities which others would be glad to have him bear because
it excuses them from many difficulties. My husband’s ready judgment
and clear discernment, which have been gained through training and
exercise, have led him to take on many burdens which others should
have borne.
Brother A, you are too slow. You should cultivate opposite qual-
ities. The cause of God demands men who can see quickly and act
instantaneously at the right time and with power. If you wait to mea-
sure every difficulty and balance every perplexity you meet you will
do but little. You will have obstacles and difficulties to encounter at
every turn, and you must with firm purpose decide to conquer them,
or they will conquer you.
Sometimes various ways and purposes, different modes of opera-
tion in connection with the work of God, are about evenly balanced
in the mind; but it is at this very point that the nicest discrimination is
necessary. And if anything is accomplished to the purpose it must be
done at the golden moment. The slightest inclination of the weight in
the balance should be seen and should determine the matter at once.
Long delays tire the angels. It is even more excusable to make a wrong
decision sometimes than to be continually in a wavering position, to be
hesitating, sometimes inclined in one direction, then in another. More
perplexity and wretchedness result from thus hesitating and doubting
than from sometimes moving too hastily.
I have been shown that the most signal victories and the most fear-
ful defeats have been on the turn of minutes. God requires promptness
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