For a long time I did not meet with any persecution in my home, as my
husband saw the light of the gospel and believed it to be the truth,
but was not willing to walk in it. God followed after him with love and
long-suffering. Time after time he resisted the conviction, but finally
the Spirit succeeded in breaking up his heart and showed him what he
must do to make his wrongs right. He began making a profession of
religion, but refused to make all his wrongs right, and in a short time
the enemy took possession of him, whereupon he turned against God and
against me, and grew worse and worse.
Now the furnace-flames became hot. He was restless and could not be
content to stay anywhere very long at a time, and everywhere we went
he set about to turn the people against me by telling untruths to gain
sympathy. He was very cruel to the children and me.
After we moved to a small town in northern Kansas, these words came
vividly to my mind: "Fear none of those things which shall come upon
thee." With the cruelty and persecution came a severe affliction. Two
doctors pronounced it tuberculosis in the knee-joint. It was so serious
that I could not bear to be moved, and when I sat in a rocking-chair I
was obliged to have something under the rocker to keep the chair from
moving. The thoughts of any one's coming near my knee made the pains go
through my limb. At times I was able to walk some on crutches by being
careful. My leg was swollen from above the knee down. At night I had to
lie upon my back with pillows under my knee, and I could move neither to
the right nor to the left, and sometimes just to cough a little caused
almost unendurable pain.
All this happened during the months before a baby girl was born. My
family and neighbors did not expect me to live, but God stood by me and
gave me this assurance: that as the children of Israel faced the Red Sea
with no possible way of crossing, and he divided the waters and let them
pass through, so he would in like manner help me. Oh, it was precious to
trust him!
Just about a week before the child was born, the excruciating pain left
my knee, but upon my recovery it came back seemingly worse than ever.
About three months later the Lord healed the disease, which has never
returned. However, I was left a cripple, and have had to use crutches
ever since that time.
At this time I had eight children. Two grown boys had gone from home,
leaving me to care for the other six. I had a great desire to rear them
for God. Thus far I had spent most of my Christian life in isolated
places, where I was deprived of church privileges. It seemed that all
the hosts of darkness were united against my determination to rear my
children under Christian influence. Although I had many things to learn
regarding how to do this, yet God was patient in teaching me.
Once when an awful discouragement tried to settle down over me, and it
seemed there was no material to work on, I was comforted through the
impression that came to me in the words, "God can take a worm and thresh
a mountain," and I have never forgotten these words, the thought of
which is expressed by the prophet in Isa. 41:14, 15. I felt that some
who opposed me would be glad for me to die so that they could get the
children from my influence. Once my husband was threatened with arrest
for cruelty, and I feared that my children would be taken from me and
placed among my opposers, as one woman had said there were plenty of
homes for them. Then the scene of Christ before Pilate came before me
and this scripture: "Thou couldest have no power at all against me,
except it were given thee from above." At the same time one of the
organ-keys was down, and we were unable to repair it; so I said, "We
will trust the Lord to fix it." When the above-mentioned scripture came
to me, the organ-key raised of its own accord, and I said, "Is there
anything like that in the Bible?" and quickly came the answer: "The gate
opened of its own accord when Peter went out." Joy filled my soul as
I realized that the mighty God of heaven was my helper.
At another time I made a carpet which required five years to make by
working whenever I could find time to do so. After it was finished and
before I had cut it, the Spirit said to me, while I was praying one day,
"Send that carpet to Kansas City to help furnish the Missionary Home."
My heart said amen, and God made my husband willing, blessed my soul in
sending it, and later gave me a carpet larger than the one I had given.
My husband had ceased to allow me to have a way to make money of my
own. I was not permitted to have either chickens or eggs. Once I made
a hot-bed, as plants found a ready sale, and thought I would make a
little money in that way, but he found it just as the plants were coming
up and destroyed it. God never failed to bless me when I said amen.
At one time when I was in need of a pair of shoes, I went in earnest
prayer to the Lord like a child and asked him for a pair. Soon
afterwards I received a letter from a sister in Kansas City whom I had
never seen. She was giving her entire time to the gospel work and had
a little money in her possession. In her letter she said, "My mind was
directed to you last Sunday during the services, and I was impressed to
send this money to you." At another time after praying for some money, I
received a dollar. I was in need of so many things that I asked the Lord
how I should spend it. This answer came: "Send it to the missionaries in
India." I did so, and in a short time received three pair of shoes for
the children, of which they were very much in need. I had many similar
experiences.
When our baby girl was about three months old, a dear sister whom I had
met and who was living in an isolated place, came to pay me a visit. She
remained in that community. After about a year she was eager to grow in
grace, and while she was anxiously waiting before the Lord and wishing
that she might grow like Sister ----, the question came to her, "Are you
willing to pass through what she has had to pass through?" She had a
desire to do whatever was necessary, but did not feel that she could
very well pass through such severe ordeals. In order to be spiritual
and grow in grace, it is not always necessary for people to pass through
such severe trials, nevertheless their consecration must be to pass
through anything that would be most to the glory of God.
About this time I had an attack of sickness, and for sometime it seemed
that I might die. My husband went to visit his sister and left me alone
with the children. The sister who had been staying in the community,
felt that she must come and stay with me, and when my husband returned,
the Lord put it into his heart to hire her for a while. The Lord healed
me and made my husband willing for my oldest daughter and I to go to a
meeting at Kansas City. This was my last opportunity to enjoy a meeting
before entering a much darker vale of trial. Our daughter was saved,
for which I praised the Lord. My husband refused to hire the sister any
longer, but in answer to prayer consented for her to stay as long as she
desired without pay for her services.
In December of that year a dear baby boy was born. The Lord gave me this
assurance: "I will be with thee in six troubles, yea, in seven there
shall no evil befall thee." My husband began planning to go to Arkansas.
We had been here three years and were getting our home comfortably
furnished, but we learned to take joyfully the spoiling of our goods and
to see them sold at a great sacrifice.
One day while I was communing with the Lord, this scripture was vividly
impressed upon my mind: "In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall
direct thy paths." At that time there was suggested to my mind the name
of a town in Kansas near where I lived during my childhood. I did not
understand what it meant, as we did not go there, but I understood
later. I had always had an aversion to living in the backwoods, for I
knew that the welfare and education of the children would be neglected,
but I acknowledged God's way.
The sister who was with us was willing to stay or go with us.
We asked the Lord to open the way if he wanted her to go, and my
husband told her that if she wanted to go he would pay her way. There
are many experiences through which I passed that I should like to
relate--experiences showing the mysterious ways in which the Lord helped
us in time of need. I learned that obedience and trueness to God will
bring us into a wealthy place.
My husband went about six weeks before we did and secured a location.
Upon our arrival we found that our home for the present was sixteen
miles from a railroad, back in the mountains, and that the roads were
very rough and rocky. Our house was a very small one built of rough,
unhewn logs. There were no windows, only some small shutters which
could be opened when the weather was not cold. There were plenty of
cracks and the fireplace was a smoky one. Most of the people in that
community had lived there from the time of their birth and were poor.
The women used tobacco. Some could not read, and morality was at a
low ebb.
Soon after being introduced to our new surroundings, I was asked these
three questions in succession:
"Are you willing to stay here and work?"
"Yes," I answered.
"Unseen and unknown?"
"Yes."
"Not even an obituary when you die?"
"Yes."
There were only twenty acres in cultivation, which required more hard
work than eighty acres of ordinary farm-land. That fall my husband
purchased a hewed log house of three rooms and moved it down between the
mountains. It had four whole windows and two half windows, and we never
knew before what luxuries they were.
We continued to have Sunday-school, as husband had not yet forbidden
us to have it. He succeeded in turning most of the people against us
by telling the usual stories, only he changed them to suit the people.
He often used the same whip for the children and me that he used for
the horses. His condition grew worse and worse all the time. The second
summer three of the children had typhoid fever. After the first one had
been ill for nine days, we sent for a doctor according to the law. He
said, "Your little girl has a straight case of typhoid well developed,
and it will take twenty-one days for the fever to break, with the best
of care, if she lives at all." I told him that my trust was in God,
but he ignored what I said. My husband told him to leave medicine and
ordered me to give it, not because he had no confidence in divine
healing, but for fear of the law, and to please the people. She had
never taken a dose of medicine in her life and wanted to trust the Lord.
I submitted and gave a few doses. God had given me witness that he
would heal her, and in three days she was sitting up and was soon up.
My husband was very angry because she was healed. About two weeks later
she took a relapse and was seemingly worse than ever, but we trusted in
the promise, and she was soon all right again. Then two of the others
contracted the disease, but they were both healed in answer to prayer.
One day during the summer while I was in the timber praying, a vivid
impression came to me that God was going to deliver us out of that
place, and the name of the town where we should live was given me. This
was the same town previously mentioned, near where I had lived during my
childhood. Oh, such rapture filled my soul! I told my daughter, and she
said the Lord had been showing her the same thing. This scripture was
given to me: "I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the
Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
And I will be found of you, saith the Lord; and I will turn away your
captivity" (Jer. 29:11, 14).
We had never sent the children to school here, as the people were so
poor and of such a low grade morally. I taught our children during the
winter. At the end of the second summer we began praying for shoes.
One day the children came from the mail-box with a pair for my oldest
daughter, and then in a few days a letter came from an unsaved woman
whom I had never met. She said: "I have some money from the Lord and
feel impressed to send it to you. Please write and tell me how to send
it." Then we received from a sister a letter containing five dollars.
We had already begun to get ready to go to our future home. We had a
catalog, from which we ordered as God gave us the means, and seldom my
husband knew anything about it, for he would not have wanted us to have
the money had he known it. He seldom noticed how much sewing was going
on.
The Lord in many ways encouraged our hearts, for there were fiery trials
awaiting us. A neighbor had moved away and hired my husband to dig his
potatoes and sweet potatoes. The enemy had such control of my husband
that he could not be honest. My daughter helped to dig them, and he
told her not to take any pains to get them all, but she did her best.
He brought nearly half a bushel of sweet potatoes home and told me to
cook them. I prayed to know what to do and received these words, "He
that sweareth to his own hurt and changeth not." I told my husband that
it was not right to keep the potatoes and that I could not cook them.
He flew into a rage and threatened to kill me, and would not allow me to
come into the room where the rest were until the light was out and they
had gone to bed. It seemed the enemy and all his hosts wanted to take my
life. I cried earnestly unto the Lord to give me something to comfort my
soul, and he brought to my mind the three Hebrew children.
A week passed and the man returned for some of his belongings. It was
dark when he passed, and he was drunk. My husband went out and talked,
and no doubt smoothed it over about the sweet potatoes. When he came
back, he said to me, "I told you it was all right about those potatoes."
I did not say anything, but did not feel right about it. The next
morning before daylight, he wanted me to cook those potatoes. I refused
and told him I could not cook them. Then the battle was on worse than
ever. He struck me and wanted me to leave the house, and followed me
with a club until I was outside the yard, and then told me to move on. I
went out into the timber and remained there, and the children brought me
some wraps and something to eat. Then he ordered the sister who was with
us to leave, and she packed a few clothes in a suit-case and came down
the timber to see me. We parted in good courage. This sister had, before
this happened, received many calls to go elsewhere. One call was from
her brother, who offered her a good home and support during the rest of
her life.
She went to a neighbor who had given her an invitation and stayed two
days, and from there to another place, where she stayed a few days and
worked for her board. While she was on the way, the Lord gave her this
assurance: "Trust in the Lord, and thou shalt be fed." While she was
there, not knowing what to do next, and being taunted by the enemy
because she had not accepted her brother's offer, the Lord seemed
sweetly to whisper to her, these words: "This is the way; walk ye
in it."
She heard of a place where they might need some one. It was very muddy
and there was a drizzling rain, but she went. When she arrived at that
place, she found they did not need her, but the telephone rang, and a
lady who had been one of our opposers asked that she come and stay with
her for a while. The scripture had come to her, "Inasmuch as ye have
done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto
me." The woman turned friend, opened the way for her to communicate with
us and to get mail from the people of God. She remained there about a
week, when an old lady desired some one to stay with her and gave her
a home until the Lord was through with her in Arkansas.
But returning to my experience in the timber, I did not know whether I
should be allowed to return home or not; but trusting God, I returned in
the afternoon and was not molested, excepting a tongue-lashing. Not long
after this our two grown sons came home on a visit, and my husband told
them awful things about me, which they believed, and turned against me
and doubled the persecution. They searched the house for books, Bibles,
and papers, and burned them before us, also pictures of our friends.
Then they tortured the little girls, trying to make them promise that
they would not be Christians like their mother. Those dear boys who had
stood by me in the past! How I thanked God for grace sufficient in time
of trial and for the privilege of loving and praying for them.
In July of our last summer there, my eldest daughter said, "I just feel
like packing my trunk to go to ----." It was the town God had shown us
should be our home. The next time she went for the mail, there was a
letter from a sister in the town, saying that God had taken sleep from
two sisters and told them to send for her, and enclosed a check for her
fare. She soon afterward went to that town.
Sometime after this, while the second daughter was driving for her
father while husking corn, she ran into a stump and broke the
wagon-tongue. Such an occurrence endangered their lives, but two men
coming along just at that time spared her somewhat, and her father sent
her to the house. I prayed until my faith rested on the promise for
protection. That night after I had gone to bed, God inspired me with
beautiful thoughts of heaven, and I got up so softly and took a pencil
and paper and wrote this poem in the dark. I can not refrain from saying
here, Praise the Lord for these precious things in time of trial!