LS 443-4
(Life Sketches of Ellen G. White 443-4)
The restlessness of the next few days and nights was accompanied with very little pain. In fact, from the very first, the Lord mercifully spared His aged servant the severe pain that ordinarily comes with such injuries. The usual symptoms of shock, also, were absent. The respiration, the temperature, and the circulation were nearly normal. Dr. Klingerman, and Dr. B. F. Jones, his associate, did all that medical science could suggest to make their patient comfortable; but at her advanced age they could hold out but little prospect of ultimate recovery. (LS 443.1) MC VC
All through the weeks and months of her last sickness, Mrs. White was buoyed up by the same faith and hope and trust that had characterized her life experience in the days of her vigor. Her personal testimony was uniformly cheerful and her courage strong. She felt that her times were in the hand of God, and that His presence was with her continually. Not long after she was rendered helpless by the accident, she testified of her Saviour, “Jesus is my blessed Redeemer, and I love Him with my whole being.” And again: “I see light in His light. I have joy in His joy, and peace in His peace. I see mercy in His mercy, and love in His love.” To Miss Sara McEnterfer, for many years her secretary, she said, “If only I can see my Saviour face to face, I shall be fully satisfied.” (LS 443.2) MC VC
In an interview with another she said: “My courage is grounded in my Saviour. My work is nearly ended. Looking over the past, I do not feel the least mite of despondency or discouragement. I feel so grateful that the Lord has withheld me from despair and discouragement, and that I can still hold the banner. I know Him whom I love, and in whom my soul trusteth.” (LS 443.3) MC VC
Referring to the prospect of death, she declared: “I feel, the sooner the better; all the time that is how I feel—the sooner the better. I have not a discouraging thought, nor sadness.... I have nothing to complain of. Let the Lord take His way and do His work with me, so that I am refined and purified; and that is all I desire. I know my work is done; it is of no use to say anything else. I shall rejoice, when my time comes, that I am permitted to lie down to rest in peace. I have no desire that my life shall be prolonged.” (LS 444.1) MC VC
Following a prayer by the one who was making these notes of her conversation, she prayed: (LS 444.2) MC VC
“Heavenly Father, I come to Thee, weak, like a broken reed, yet by the Holy Spirit’s vindication of righteousness and truth that shall prevail. I thank Thee, Lord, I thank Thee, and I will not draw away from anything that Thou wouldst give me to bear. Let Thy light, let Thy joy and grace, be upon me in my last hours, that I may glorify Thee, is my great desire; and this is all that I shall ask of Thee. Amen.” (LS 444.3) MC VC
This humble, trustful prayer by one who long had been a chosen vessel in the Master’s service, was fully answered. Hers was the comfort that causes a child of the great Father of light and love to fear no evil, even while passing through the valley of the shadow of death. One Sabbath day, only a few short weeks before she breathed her last, she said to her son: (LS 444.4) MC VC
“I am very weak. I am sure that this is my last sickness. I am not worried at the thought of dying. I feel comforted all the time, that the Lord is near me. I am not anxious. The preciousness of the Saviour has been so plain to me. He has been a friend. He has kept me in sickness and in health.” (LS 444.5) MC VC