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More Like Christ Every Day, June 28
We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are
changed into the same image from glory to glory even as by the Spirit of the
Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18
.
Dear Husband: I received a few lines from Willie today with the cheering
account of your steady improvement in health. For this we have hoped and have
not ceased our earnest prayers. The Lord has a work for you to do. You must not
be discouraged, even if you have days of suffering and pain and weariness....
I miss you here so much, but the Lord has not left me alone. Today has been
a precious day to us in Oregon. The Spirit of the Lord was manifested in a most
marked manner in the nine o’clock social [i.e., testimony] meeting. Many humble,
good testimonies were borne and the melting Spirit of God rested upon preachers
and people. I tried to speak to the people a short time. I told them that it is
the privilege of the Christian to come to Jesus in living faith, being in earnest,
claiming the promises of God, not depending upon feeling, but taking God at His
word. He is a God of love, of tender compassion, of long forbearance, more kind,
more beneficent that the kindest earthly parent....
While talking faith and presenting Jesus as our strong helper, my heart was
broken, the tears flowed freely. I seldom weep, but the melting love of Christ
melted my heart and opened the fountain of tears as I presented the great ransom
Jesus had made for our souls that we might have pardon, purity, and peace, and a
heaven of bliss. God would have His followers useful on earth and honored and
glorified in the kingdom of God....
We sought to lead the people to reach forward to the things that are before
us, seeking earnestly to attain the highest elevation of Christian character. In this
we must rely simply on the merits and righteousness of our Surety. We must
have awakened in us a holy jealousy of ourselves, and cultivate a spirit of vigilant
prayer. We want the spirit of earnest, longing desire that Moses had when he
prayed, “I beseech thee, shew me thy glory” (
Exodus 33:18
). And his petition was
not presumptuous. God did not rebuke His servant as being bold and irreverent.
The Lord would have us day by day [become] more like Christ, keeping
His words, conforming to His precepts and example, entering more and more
deeply every day into the spirit and meaning of God’s requirements and gracious
promises.... In God will we trust. Be of good courage in the Lord. Lean heavily
upon Jesus’ all-sustaining arm.... (Signed) Your Ellen.—
Letter 37, June 28, 1878
,
to James White, who was traveling in the Eastern United States.
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