ELLEN HARMON FACES A DILEMMA
Ellen Harmon sat bundled up beside her bedroom window staring at the frosty landscape outside. It was December in Portland, Maine and the trees were bare against the wintry grey backdrop of the sky. Ellen barely noticed the details of the scene. Her mind was a million miles away recounting the events of the past two weeks.
A few days prior she had stood in front of a large group of Millerite Adventists gathered in her parent’s home. They had come from near and far to hear her recount the vision that God had given her. In many ways, the vision served to be an encouragement to the believers but it also challenged some of the views they currently held regarding the 2300 day prophecy and its fulfillment. Ellen had quaked at the prospect of sharing the vision publicly. She was weak and sickly and the prospect of sharing a vision that challenged the accepted understanding regarding the surrounding the great disappointment filled her with fear. But she had relented and then gathering up her courage, had managed to share the vision by the grace of God.
The reception had been warm and welcoming. The little group of faithful millerites had embraced the vision as a message from God and had been greatly comforted. Ellen’s own spirits had been lifted as she saw the positive outcome of the entire situation. However, about a week after that triumphant scene, God had given her a second vision. Ellen burrowed deeper into the warmth of her blankets, shrinking away from the recollection of the vision and the message that had accompanied it.
In the second vision, she was shown the trials that she would have to pass through and the terrible and sometimes bitter opposition she would have to face as she recounted to others what God had revealed to her. The angel who accompanied her in vision had reassured her that the grace of God would be sufficient for her and would sustain her through the trials. Ellen balked at the calling. She was seventeen years old, plagued with ill health and barely educated. The prospect of acting as a mouthpiece for God and sharing the visions he gave her was daunting enough but the added burden of trial and opposition made the entire enterprise seem completely untenable.
I can’t do it her mind wailed God, don’t you see? I just can’t do it? She gently rocked herself back and forth as her mind turned over the intricacies of the situation for what seemed like the millionth time. Why? Why had God laid this burden on her? Her? Of all people? There were so many others who were stronger, more literate and more capable and yet God had reached out and tapped her on the shoulder. Ellen shook her head as she gazed unseeingly out of her window. She had been wrestling with the decision for the better part of a weak, begging God to take the burden away from her. Yet every time she begged the words of the angel came back to haunt her; “Make known to others what I have revealed to you”
