p. 6 | EXPERIENCE

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jan 15, 1901

EXPERIENCE

I have always had a deep interest in woman's work, and especially since it was by a woman's sending me Seventh-day Adventist literature, and such nice letters, that I was brought into the light of the glorious gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

The more I think of the way in which papers and letters can work when accompanied with prayer, the more wonderful it seems to me. Thinking it might encourage others to keep on in the good work which the Lord has for each of us to do, I will tell you some of my experiences, and how the Lord used these means to save me.

Nine years ago I awoke to the realization that I was in a very wicked world, surrounded with ignorance, sin, and indifference, and nothing could satisfy the longings of my heart. I resorted to one thing after another, but to no avail. Finally I advertised in a paper for reading-matter and correspondence, not knowing what the result would be. But, to my delight, in a few weeks every mail brought me papers and letters, among which were the Signs of the Times, REVIEW AND HERALD, health journals, etc., followed by letters. I read them all, and became deeply interested; in fact, they contained just what I had wanted so long.

I was almost a physical wreck, though I am naturally healthy. I had for some time been suffering from indigestion, headache, nervousness, and a hundred ailments. And it was no wonder; for I drank coffee and other poisonous stimulants, besides using tobacco in all its forms. But I did not know any better; for parents here teach their children to use those things to make them strong.

One day I saw an article in one of the health journals, under the heading, “Effects of Coffee Drinking.” I read in it my own experience to the letter; so I said, “Good-by, coffee; I shall never touch you again;” and in less than a month I felt like a new person, though not entirely well. One day I received a package of health leaflets—twenty-five, I think. When I began to read them, I found that they were intensely interesting, and said, “How does my friend know so well just what things I need to know in order to be helped?” In them I found that all alcoholic liquors, condiments, and tobacco, instead of being foods, or in any way beneficial to health, are deadly poisons, or in some way injurious to health. So I took my “pets,”—nay, poisons,—all of them this time, and said good-by to them for good.

Next I saw the Sabbath truth and accepted it. But with this came persecution. The Lord was with me, and in due time He opened the way for me to obtain a good home among His people, and also to attend one of our schools, where I could obtain a better education, and more light in regard to the message for this time. Later the way opened for me to attend the training school at Battle Creek, where I received most excellent instructions for three years.

Then the Lord gave me a double burden for my home field (I had always felt a burden for those who I knew were suffering untold miseries because of ignorance), and I returned to the dark corner that I had left many days before,—not penniless and ignorant as when I left, but rich in grace, and wise in the ways of the Lord in regard to the laws of life.

The burden came to me in the meeting held by Sister Henry when the Woman's Gospel Work was first organized. How well I remember the power of the Spirit manifested in that meeting! I had the burden, but no money with which to carry out my plans; yet, knowing that the Lord had cared for me, and supplied my every need for so long, I did not hesitate to ask Him to give me the things needful to start the work that lay so near my heart. Within two short weeks I had received books, money, charts, and a sufficient supply to begin the work.

(Concluded next week.)