p. 155 | Trusting by H. I. F.

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Apr 30, 1872

Trusting.

By H. I. F.

Looking forward, I realize that I am totally ignorant of the character of the work that may be apportioned to me; and know not where, under, the broad, blue canopy, my field of labor may lie. Yet am I enabled to leave this solution to Him whose “ways are past finding out;” and with a calm trust in the same Omnipotence that guides the tiniest creature of the natural world to its proper niche, I shrink not from the work before me. I may toil beneath a stately dome, where many curious and critical eyes are watching. My labor may be among degraded, obscure, and suffering humanity. I may work alone, and silently, waiting long years for sheaves to appear, or the desire of my heart to come. Perhaps my life may be that of the lowly peasant, happily released from galling care and weighty responsibility.

But wherever the work, or whatever its nature, I believe it comes from above, and I receive it as assigned by the wise and loving Master, believing that, however difficult or distasteful it may seem, a sufficiency of wisdom, strength, and patience, will be vouchsafed.

May the shadows which rest upon my soul betimes but aid in the fulfillment of the prophetic words, “He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.”

“I know not if the dark or bright Shall be my lot; If that wherein my hopes delight Be best or not.

“It may be mine to drag, for years, Toil’s heavy chain; Or day and night my meat be tears On bed of pain.

“My bark is wafted to the strand By breath divine, And on the helm, there rests a hand, Other than mine.

“He holds me when the billows smite, I shall not fall. If sharp, ’tis short; if long, ’tis light; He tempers all.

“Safe to the land! safe to the land! The end is this; And then with Him go hand in hand, Far into bliss.”

H. I. F.

Estherville, Iowa, April 6, 1872.