Ellen G. White: The Australian Years: 1891-1900 (vol. 4)

Chapter 14—(1894) A Place for the School

The autumn and winter months of 1894, April to July, were a time of anxiety, disappointment, and discouragement. Overtaxation in April in writing, especially the American mail with the burden of meeting the Anna Phillips situation, brought to Ellen White two months of weakness and illness. The desperate financial crisis in Australia brought almost overwhelming demands that could be met only partially. The proposal of the Foreign Mission Board, pressed by O. A. Olsen, that Ellen White should quickly finish her work on the life of Christ and, with W. C. White, visit Africa and then proceed to America by way of Europe (this at just the crucial time in getting the school started in Australia [4 WCW, p. 463]); the frustration of not being able to make much progress in writing on her book; the lawsuit by Will Walling against Ellen White, for what he claimed was the alienation of the affections of his daughters, Addie and May; the confusion brought about by the many visitors to the White home, and their treating it much as a hotel, even though some members of the family had to bring cots into the dining room at night; and on top of this, the action of the General Conference Committee, because of financial adversity in America, to cut her wages by $2 per week and W. C. White's by $1 per week, when every available dollar was so much needed—all pressed hard upon her. Ellen White was tempted to board the next boat back to America and take up her writing at her Healdsburg home. 4BIO 146.1

But this was not Ellen White's way of meeting difficulties. She would not turn and run, but would face it all courageously. She would put her trust in Jesus and face the issues day by day. 4BIO 146.2