Sunday, November 3, 2013

Ms.B: & that Lovesick Train of Thought

"Dear Sister B: .... You are in a sad state,

not so much because of actual disease,
although you are not well,
but because of imaginary
inability to labor. ......you suffered your mind to dwell too much upon the boys. You have frequently made them the theme of conversation, and your mind has run in a channel not profitable to your spiritual advancement. You have fallen into a train of thinking which has led to evil results. You have injured and abused your own body, and brought upon yourself an imbecile state of mind. You have indulged in a lovesick train of thought and feeling until you are almost ruined, soul and body.
You have been sympathized with too much.
 Nearly all your thoughts are now upon yourself.
In your present state of mind you are not fit to marry.
The sad,
gloomy state of your mind,
which leads you to weep and feel that life is not desirable,
is the result of allowing your thoughts
to run in an impure channel,
upon forbidden subjects,
while you indulge habits that are steadily and surely undermining your constitution
and preparing you for premature decay.
It would have been far better for you had you never gone to -----. Your stay there injured you. You dwelt upon your infirmities, and mingled in society which was corrupting in its influence. Miss C was a corrupt, evil-minded woman. Her association with you increased the evil which was already upon you.

At the present time your condition is not acceptable in the sight of God;
yet you imagine that you have no desire to live.
But should you be taken at your expressed wish,
and your life cease,
your case would be hopeless indeed.
You are neither prepared for this world nor the next.
You have had a very good mind, but it has become unbalanced by being directed in a wrong channel. You now amount to little else than a blank in society.
This need not be.
You can do for yourself that which no one else can do for you.
The will is at fault;
you have the power,
 but not the will.
You are pining for love.
Jesus calls for your affections;
if you will devote them to Him,
He will rid you of all this sickly, sentimental, impure love, found in the pages of a novel.
You must awake, you must shake off this deception which is upon you, and seek pure love.
Perfect peace is an attribute of heaven which angels possess.
 May God help you to become a possessor of this peace."
Testimonies for the Church vol.2 p.323-327 E.G.W. 
 
Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.
Proverbs 4:23 NLT