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To an Aged Sister, May 30
O turn unto me, and have mercy upon me; give thy strength unto thy
servant, and save the son of thine handmaid.
Psalm 86:16
.
Dear Sister McDearmon.... I am getting old as well as you. Your age I do not
exactly remember. I am past seventy-eight, but I am able to do a large amount
of work in writing. I do long for rest, but the Lord preserves me so that I do not
suffer much pain....
You and I shall not expect to live much longer, but we will hold fast the faith
and the blessing of the Lord through obedience to all His commandments. I am
trying to do what I can, writing the things that I must write. I greatly desire to
keep in the work, and bear my testimony to the last. I shall be seventy-nine years
old the twenty-sixth of next November. I can yet accomplish much work writing.
Though I am brain weary, yet I see so much to be done. Our warfare will
soon be ended, but the Lord is good and merciful. When our warfare is ended, we
shall rest in hope until the morning of the resurrection. Then the last trump shall
sound, and we shall see the King in His beauty, and behold His matchless charms.
My dear sister, we have a precious hope; let our hearts rely constantly upon God.
Truth will triumph and bear away the victory....
The Lord will be with you. He is your ever-present Helper, and you may
know He will never leave nor forsake you. You should have the best of care, and
live your time in this world, until the quiet rest, in full hope of the overcomer’s
reward. Just rest yourself in your belief of the truth. Do not worry about anything.
You have kept the faith, and for you is laid up a crown of life, which Christ, the
righteous Judge, shall give you at that day, and not to you only, but to all them
who love His appearing (see
2 Timothy 4:8
).
The Lord will keep you and bless you. All your hope, I know, is in Jesus, and
you may rest in His love. The angels of God will be round about you. You may
rest in our Lord in quiet faith, and ever believe He has your life “hid with Christ
in God.”
May the Lord be a continual blessing unto you, my beloved, aged sister. I
am relying wholly upon the Lord Jesus. We will hope and pray and believe, and
we will trust in His living Word. Our beloved Sister [Mary] Kelsey is through
with earth’s troubles. She was faithful and true. We will meet in the city of our
God. In much love, Ellen G. White.—
Letter 168, May 30, 1906
, to Sister Melinda
McDearmon, the mother of Edson White’s wife, Emma.
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