Advent Women On The Move

January 21  Advent Women On The Move

 

And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea." Ex. 15:21, RSV.

Women have always had a part in God's work. And so it was in Millerite Adventism.

Lucy Maria Hersey, for example, had been converted at the age of 18 and felt the Lord had called her to preach the gospel.

In 1842 she accepted Miller's doctrine. Soon after she accompanied her father on a trip to Schenectady, New York, where a believer asked her father to address a non-Adventist group on the evidences of his faith. The people were "so opposed to female speaking" that the host thought it best if the father made the presentation. But miracle of miracles, Hersey found himself speechless.

After a long silence, the host introduced Lucy as one able to talk on the topic. And talk she did, finding a response so great that they soon had to shift to a larger auditorium to hold the crowds. That was the beginning of a fruitful ministry that resulted in the conversion of several men who became Advent preachers.

Even more successful was Olive Maria Rice. Converted to Millerism in 1842, she was "convinced that the Lord had something more for me to do than to assist in prayer meetings." By March 1843 God had blessed her ministry with hundreds of conversions. She wrote to Himes that "there are constantly four or five places calling for my labors at the same time."

Rice recognized that many opposed her work because she was a femal, but she declared that she "dare not stop for the only reason that I am a sister. Though men may censure and condemn, I feel justified before God, and expect with joy with render my account for thus warning my fellow beings."

Elvira Fassett had to overcome the opposition of her husband. She had been taught that a woman should not speak in public. But being pressed by others, she finally gave in, only to find that the Lord blessed her labors. One of her most important converts was her husband, who had witnessed the impact of her preaching and had come to realize the importance of the prophecy of Joel 2 that in the last days God would pour out His Spirit on young women. Subsequently that Fassetts preached that Advent message as a ministerial team.

The good news is that God summons all of us to proclaim His message. And He will bless us as we yield to His will.

One day alone is ours, and during this day we are to live for God. For this one day we are to place in the hand of Christ, in solemn service, all our purposes and plans, casting all our care upon Him, for He careth for us. "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." "In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength." Jeremiah 29:11; Isaiah 30:15(TFMB 101).