FOREWORD
BEGINNING IN 1945, THE REVIEW
AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION HAS PUBLISHED A YEARLY DEVOTIONAL BOOK
FOR OUR MORNING MEDITATION. WITH THE UPWARD LOOK, THIRTEEN OF THESE HAVE
BEEN COMPILED FROM THE WRITINGS OF ELLEN G. WHITE. FOR MANY YEARS AN ARTICLE
FROM HER PEN APPEARED ALMOST WEEKLY IN THE REVIEW AND HERALD, AND MANY
HUNDREDS OF ARTICLES WERE PRINTED IN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES AND OTHER CHURCH
PERIODICALS. HER MANUSCRIPT AND LETTER FILES ARE RICH IN MATERIALS ON PRACTICAL
CHRISTIAN LIVING AND COUNSELS GIVEN TO AID A PEOPLE IN PREPARING TO MEET
THE LORD WHEN HE COMES. THOUGH HER PEN HAS BEEN STILL SINCE HER PASSING
IN 1915, THIS VALUABLE COUNSEL IN BOOKS, PERIODICALS, LETTERS, AND MANUSCRIPTS
HAS CONTINUED TO GUIDE GOD'S PEOPLE HEAVENWARD.
THROUGH THE YEARS MANY NEW COMPILATIONS
FROM HER WRITINGS HAVE BEEN MADE ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS. USUALLY THESE HAVE
FOCUSED ON A SPECIFIC THEME, AND MOST OF THE VOLUMES FOR OUR MORNING INSPIRATION
HAVE FOLLOWED THIS FORMAT. HOWEVER, AS IN THIS DAY WITH GOD, THE DEVOTIONAL
BOOK FOR 1980, WHICH HAD THE LARGEST SALE OF ANY SDA DEVOTIONAL BOOK, SELECTIONS
FOR THE UPWARD LOOK HAVE BEEN MADE FROM LETTERS AND MANUSCRIPTS WRITTEN
OR ORALLY PRESENTED BY HER ON THE SAME CALENDAR DAY DESIGNATED FOR OUR
READING OF IT. FOR INSTANCE, THE READING FOR JANUARY 1 WAS WRITTEN ON JANUARY
1, 1886.
NO CENTRAL THEME HAS BEEN FOLLOWED
IN THE SELECTION OF THESE MESSAGES EXCEPT THAT WHENEVER POSSIBLE THE EXCERPTS
ARE INTENDED TO BRING ENCOURAGEMENT. THE MATERIAL IN THIS VOLUME EITHER
HAS NEVER BEEN PUBLISHED BEFORE OR HAS APPEARED IN JOURNALS TRANSITORY
IN THEIR NATURE. THOUGH WRITTEN MANY YEARS AGO, ALL IS APPROPRIATE ADMONITION
FOR GOD'S CHILDREN IN THE 1980S.
MRS. WHITE'S SEVENTY YEARS OF
PUBLIC MINISTRY WERE ALSO SEVENTY YEARS OF PERSONAL MINISTRY. HER WRITINGS
TO HER FAMILY AND FRIENDS WERE MESSAGES OF COMFORT, ENCOURAGEMENT, AND
SOMETIMES CORRECTION AND REPROOF. HER TESTIMONIES TO THOSE FOR WHOM A MESSAGE
WAS GIVEN HER BY GOD WERE SENT ON THEIR WAY AS HEAVEN GUIDED, BUT ALWAYS
WITH HER LOVE AND CONCERN. HER VERY BEING WAS FILLED WITH AFFECTION AND
CONSIDERATION, NOT ONLY FOR HER IMMEDIATE FAMILY BUT FOR THE ENTIRE FAMILY
OF GOD, AND HER WRITINGS BEAR A SILENT BUT UNMISTAKABLE WITNESS TO THE
DEDICATION THAT CONTROLLED HER LIFE.
THE NAMES OF PEOPLE TO WHOM
THESE LETTERS WERE DIRECTED APPEAR HERE AND THERE: JAMES WHITE, HER HUSBAND;
EDSON AND EMMA WHITE, HER OLDER SON AND HIS WIFE; DR. J. H. KELLOGG, MEDICAL
SUPERINTENDENT OF THE BATTLE CREEK SANITARIUM; J. A. BURDEN, SANITARIUM
MANAGER IN AUSTRALIA AND CALIFORNIA; DR. J. H. KRESS, MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT
OF SANITARIUMS IN AUSTRALIA AND THE UNITED STATES; S. N. HASKELL AND A.
G. DANIELLS, WHO BOTH OCCUPIED VARIOUS LEADERSHIP POSITIONS IN DENOMINATIONAL
WORK. SOMETIMES EXCERPTS HAVE BEEN DRAWN FROM HER DAILY WRITINGS IN HER
JOURNALS, AS WELL AS FROM OTHER MANUSCRIPTS AND SERMONS.
THE WORK ON THIS BOOK HAS BEEN
DONE IN THE WHITE ESTATE OFFICES AT THE GENERAL CONFERENCE. IT IS THE PRAYER
OF THOSE WHO COMPILED THIS VOLUME OF PROMISES AND INSTRUCTION THAT IT WILL
HELP TO PREPARE ALL OF US FOR THE IMMINENT FINAL CONFLICT, WHICH PRECEDES
THE MOST GLORIOUS EVENT OF ALL THE AGES.
THE TRUSTEES OF THE
ELLEN G. WHITE ESTATE
WASHINGTON, D.C.