More On Annie Smith

March 30  More On Annie Smith

 


He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mouring nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Rev. 21:4, ESV.

Yesterday we met Annie Smith at the time of her conversion. Soon afterward, she wrote for the Reveiw and Herald on November 21, 1851, that "I trust that I have forsaken all to follow the Lamb withersovever he leads the way. Earth has lost its attractions. My hopes, joys, affections, are now all centered in things above and divine.

"I want no other place than to sit at the feet of Jesus, and learn of him-no other occupation, than to be in the service of my heavenly Father-no ohter delight, than the peace of God, which passeth all understanding.

"O praise his name for what he has done for me, I feel a sweet foretaste of the glories of that better world-an earnest of that inheritance-and I am determined by his grace to overcome every obstacle, endure the cross, despising the shame, so that an entrance may be administered into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

Up to that point in her life her hopes and ambitions had been on a teaching career in a first-class secondary school. In fact, not long before her conversion she had recieved on offer of a prestigious position at an excellent salary. In short, by 1851 she had everything she had ever hoped for on this earth.

But after accepting the Advent message through Joseph Bates, all her ambitions changed. Hearing that James White needed help in editing the Review, she volunteered to assist him at no salary but room and board. She was excited to be in the Lord's work so that she could enable others to learn of the coming kingdom.

For three years she worked with James White, but pulmonary tuberculosis cut short her life in 1855 in her twenty-seventh year.

The day before her death she worte the preface to her poem "Home Here and Home in Heaven," thanking God for the work He had given her her below, but turning her eyes to heaven as her years "ceased to flow."

Annie's life may have been a short one, but her influence lived on, especially in her hymns and in her brother Uriah, who her experience had helped bring to the Lord in late 1852.

        

Lord, as I consider Annie Smith, help me to get my values and priorities straight. This day I give my self to Your service. Thank You for life.

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