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Transcript

Ellen White’s bedroom may not have been the site of her major works whilst in Australia, but it is still recognised for its significance.

Not long after her arrival to Australia, Mrs White contracted Rheumatic Fever, an inflammatory disease that can cause the heart, joints, skin and central nervous system to be inflamed. As a result, Mrs White was bedridden and in pain so great that she struggled to rise or even walk. While her attendants nursed her, she continued to worsen over the next eight months, and while eventually recovered, was weak and exhausted. But during this time, she is recorded to have turned to God for her source of strength and courage.

Can you imagine what it would have been like to journey across the world, away from everything she’d ever known, only to be weakened in such a way? Only great faith, and God’s blessing could encourage her to continue the work she had come to do.

She reflected, “I am thankful that I had this experience, because I am better acquainted with my precious saviour. All through my sickness His love, His tender compassion, was my comfort, my continual consolation.”

Throughout the remainder of the bedroom, you will see the everyday things that made up her life. The Bible, a remainder of the book she cherished most, the photos of the family she loved, and the physical things like a water pitcher which remind us ever of her simple humanity. Every day upon waking here, Mrs White would arise to do the Lord’s work, confident despite her troubles, and writing, “In all your temporal concerns, in all your cares and anxieties, wait upon the Lord.”