The Story of our Health Message

An Instructive Dream

By this time the mother was utterly exhausted, and she retired to her room to try to snatch a few hours of sleep. But sleep refused to come, and she could only toss restlessly about. At last, feeling the need for fresh air, she opened the door of her room into the hall. Soon she was asleep, and in a dream she seemed to see an experienced physician standing by the sick child, watching his breathing and feeling his pulse. Turning to the mother, he said: SHM 87.4

“‘The crisis has passed. He has seen his worst night. He will now come up speedily, for he has not the injurious influence of drugs to recover from. Nature has nobly done her work to rid the system of impurities.’”—Spiritual Gifts 4a:152. SHM 87.5

Then, referring to the relief experienced by Mrs. White after opening the door to her sleeping room, the physician continued: SHM 88.1

“‘That which gave you relief will also relieve your child. He needs air. You have kept him too warm. The heated air coming from a stove is injurious, and were it not for the air coming in at the crevices of the windows, would be poisonous and destroy life. Stove heat destroys the vitality of the air and weakens the lungs. The child’s lungs have been weakened by the room being kept too warm. Sick persons are debilitated by disease and need all the invigorating air that they can bear to strengthen the vital organs to resist disease. And yet in most cases air and light are excluded from the sick room at the very time when most needed, as though dangerous enemies.’”—Ibid., 152, 153. SHM 88.2

The hope inspired by these words was realized. The following day Willie’s fever broke, and he seemed much better. Though weak for a time, his recovery was rapid, and he enjoyed better health after the sickness than before. SHM 88.3

“This experience is valuable to us,” wrote Mrs. White in concluding the story. The counsel and experience thus gained were freely made available to others. After this she was called not infrequently by her neighbors to act as a nurse to the sick, sometimes at their own homes; and at times the sick were brought to the White home. Thus she tested by actual experience the principles revealed to her and advocated by her pen, and found them effective and beneficial. SHM 88.4