God, Save Us!

Ellen Harmon was a young girl living in Maine. In 1844, she had an unusual experience during a prayer meeting at someone’s home. While everyone was praying, she seemed to faint. While she lay on the floor, almost like she was sleeping, she was experiencing a vision. She saw herself taken higher and higher far above the dark world. Jesus told her to tell others what she saw.

You can imagine that everyone didn’t believe Ellen. They thought she made up her visions or that maybe she was sick and seeing things not really there. But others did believe. Soon she found herself traveling around New England telling people about her visions.

One day, two years later, Ellen and her sister, a lady friend, and Heman Gurney, another person who believed in the visions, got into a sailboat. They planned to visit a family on West Island. West Island is an island near Fairhaven, Massachusetts. You can still visit West Island and it’s much easier today because it is connected by a long roadway that acts as a bridge. But when Ellen and the others crossed one had to use a boat.

They started out just about sundown. Crossing the distance between the mainland and the island would have been easier in the daylight, but Mr. Gurney was a good sailor. He was familiar with traveling back and forth to the island.

They had gone only a short distance when a sudden storm arose. It thundered and lightening crossed the sky. The rain came down in buckets and the waves were so high they splashed water into the boat. There was no place for cover, and everyone was afraid.

Ellen knelt in the boat and cried to God to save them. At that very moment, God gave her another vision. We don’t know whether she appeared to be asleep or faint, but she received a message from God—a very short, but wonderful message. God told Ellen in the vision that before she and her friends would drown in this storm, every drop in the ocean would be dried up. God had plans for Ellen, and it was not yet time for her to die.

Ellen came out of her vision and told the others. Even though the rain came down, the waves were high, and it was so dark they couldn’t see, they were not afraid. Instead, they sang hymns and praised God for taking care of them.

Mr. Gurney still struggled with the boat. He threw down the anchor, but it wouldn’t hold. The storm continued to toss the little boat and the wind continued to drive it. The danger was the boat crashing into the rocks around the island. Eventually he was able to get the anchor to hold. Mr. Gurney decided to call for help. 

There were only two houses on the island and both families had gone to bed for the night. But one little girl couldn’t sleep. She heard the cries on the water and woke her father. He brought his boat and took the passengers ashore. They were so thankful for the protection from the storm they spent most of the night praising God for His wonderful goodness.

—Adapted from Early Writings, by Ellen G. White, p. 23