Experience Not Reliable
71
The Lord has given you a work to do which He does not propose
to do for you. You should move out from principle, in harmony with
natural law, irrespective of feeling. You should begin to act upon the
light that God has given you. You may not be able to do this all at
once, but you can do much by moving out gradually in faith, believing
that God will be your helper, that He will strengthen you. You could
exercise in walking and in performing duties requiring light labor in
your family, and not be so dependent upon others. The consciousness
that you can do will give you increased strength. If your hands were
more employed and your brain less exercised in planning for others,
your physical and mental strength would increase. Your brain is not
idle, but there is not corresponding labor on the part of the other organs
of the body. Exercise, to be of decided advantage to you, should be
systematized and brought to bear upon the debilitated organs that they
may become strengthened by use. The movement cure is a great
advantage to a class of patients who are too feeble to exercise. But for
all who are sick to rely upon it, making it their dependence, while they
neglect to exercise their muscles themselves, is a great mistake.
Thousands are sick and dying around us who might get well and
live if they would; but their imagination holds them. They fear that
they will be made worse if they labor or exercise, when this is just
the change they need to make them well. Without this they never can
improve. They should exercise the power of the will, rise above their
aches and debility, engage in useful employment, and forget that they
have aching backs, sides, lungs, and heads. Neglecting to exercise
the entire body, or a portion of it, will bring on morbid conditions.
Inaction of any of the organs of the body will be followed by a decrease
in size and strength of the muscles, and will cause the blood to flow
sluggishly through the blood vessels.
If there are duties to be done in your domestic life, you do not
think it possible that you could do them, but you depend upon others.
Sometimes it is exceedingly inconvenient for you to obtain the help
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you need. You frequently expend double the strength required to
perform the task, in planning and searching for someone to do the
work for you. If you would only bring your mind to do these little acts
and family duties yourself, you would be blessed and strengthened in
it, and your influence in the cause of God would be far greater. God
made Adam and Eve in Paradise, and surrounded them with everything