The Story of our Health Message

A Call to Faith

The letter concluded with the following call to faith and an assurance of God’s help: “Here is the Word of the Lord. Open up every place possible. We are to labor in faith, taking hold of a power that is pledged to do large things for us. We are to reach out in faith in Los Angeles and in Redlands and Riverside.”—Ibid., 9, 10. SHM 349.1

During the next few days several letters and telegrams were sent to Elder Burden from Washington by Mrs. White, and to him from officers of the Southern California Conference. The latter, in looking at the purchase of the Loma Linda Sanitarium as a purely local conference enterprise, were naturally alarmed at the thought of adding to their already heavy load of conference indebtedness. They urged Elder Burden to delay action till their return, and when this seemed impossible, they telegraphed him that they could not thus obligate the Southern California Conference. SHM 349.2

Mrs. White could appreciate the attitude of these brethren, and she wrote to Elder Burden that she could “not ask the conference to invest” in the sanitarium, for they had “enough responsibilities to carry without taking upon them other responsibilities.” (E. G. White Letter 145, 1905.) However, with her positive conviction that it was the Lord’s will that the property be secured, and learning that delay would result in the loss of the opportunity to purchase it, she confidently assured Elder Burden that some means of paying for it would be found, and finally wrote positively: SHM 349.3

“In regard to the purchase of Loma Linda I will say, Go ahead. ... I am well satisfied that the place is one we ought to have. It is cheap at forty thousand dollars. We will not leave you, but will stand back of you, and help you to raise the means.”—E. G. White Letter 155, 1905. SHM 349.4