EXTRACT FROM CORRESPONDENCE.
I AM writing this, lying on my back. We are enjoying our home school. We have four little ones. I do not know why the Lord permits my sickness; but this I do know: I love him, and will trust him. My little ones are doing the housework. The oldest one is a boy, nine years old. He does the cooking, and bakes good light bread. His little sister, six years old, helps him. They are piecing quilts out of scraps. They have finished three quilts, and are piecing two more. They are learning to sew nicely. You say you wonder why the Lord permits your sickness. It is because something has been done in your physical practices that he can not indorse with health. This is the case with us all whenever we are sick. Sometimes we do the wrong ignorantly, sometimes we are able to trace effect directly back to cause. The Lord will not give the indorsement of health to anything that is contrary to the principles upon which life and health are dependent. It takes us a long time to learn those lessons that give us perfect health, and I hope that you may discover the cause of this illness, and be able to avoid it in the future. But it is among the “all things” that work for good. Our Heavenly Father has mercifully ordered that even the things that are in themselves evil shall be compelled to work for our good when we trust and obey him. That this is working good in your case is manifest by what you say about your little children. But, of course, you should not stay sick for their good. They should be relieved by health in you just as soon as possible. The burden of such housework must be heavy for such little people. Do not allow them to be kept too closely at it, as that will discourage them. Thank God for the home school! It will be good for you as well as for them; and by this, even while lying upon your back, you can keep your little ones out of harm’s way, and train them up for God.