Rest in the Lord—Your mind may often be clouded because of pain. Then do not try to think, but just rest, and show that you have committed your soul to God as unto a faithful Creator. It is your privilege to show in your weakness and suffering that you do not doubt the love of God toward you, that you know that He is faithful who has promised, and that you trust soul and body in His hands, that He will keep that which is committed to His trust.
(9MR 288.1)
Let your mind dwell upon the goodness of God, upon the great love wherewith He has loved us, as evidenced in the work of redemption. If He did not love us, and consider us of value, then this great sacrifice would not have been made. He is beneficent in mercy and in grace. Let your heart and mind be at rest, like a tired child in the arms of its mother. His everlasting arms are beneath you. In all your afflictions Jesus is afflicted. What a privilege it is for you, now afflicted, to find a refuge in Jesus.
(9MR 288.2)
The gospel armor seems too weighty to be borne. Well, Jesus Christ is your armor. Hide in Him, and the wicked one will not harass or confuse your faith. Jesus has bequeathed His peace to you.—“Strong is the strength which God supplies through His eternal Son.”
(9MR 288.3)
Praise the Lord that you have felt the cleansing efficacy of the Saviour’s blood. Upon your soul the Son of Righteousness hath arisen with healing in His wings. How empty and unsatisfying is every earthly thing. But Jesus, the precious Saviour, is your spiritual sustenance. He has linked your life with His life. The word of His grace is manna to the believing soul. The precious promises of the Word are life, sweetness, and peace.
(9MR 288.4)
Do not be troubled. Jesus loves you, and will care for and bless you. The active, aggressive battle you can no more fight, but you can let Jesus fight it for you. He says to you, “Give your case entirely into My hands. Be still and know that I am God.”
(9MR 289.1)
Dear Sister Cady, we hope and pray that the Lord will give you help and strength under the severe taxation that is upon you. That God who saw Nathanael under the fig tree sees you, and understands all your griefs and all your sorrows. The Lord Jesus will be your strength in this day of your affliction.—Letter 16, 1896, pp. 1, 2. (To Brother and Sister Cady, November 17, 1896.)
(9MR 289.2)
Striving for Happiness—We are so anxious, all of us, for happiness, but many rarely find it because of their faulty methods of seeking, in the place of striving. We must strive most earnestly, and mingle all our desires with faith. Then happiness steals in upon us almost unsought—it may be amid aggressive warfare, truth against error. We believe in a general way, but we lose much because we do not trust fully and entirely in God our Maker. When we can, notwithstanding disagreeable circumstances, rest confidingly in His love and shut ourselves in with Him, resting peacefully in His love, the sense of His presence will inspire a deep, tranquil joy. This experience gains for us a faith that enables us not to fret, not to worry, but to depend upon a Power that is infinite.—Letter 57, 1897, p. 1. (To Brother and Sister Hare, January 20, 1897.)
(9MR 289.3)