This week in Christian history: Georgian king martyred, Baptist denomination founded
Elizabeth Ryder Wheaton has a vision – Nov. 11, 1883
This week marks the anniversary of when Elizabeth Ryder Wheaton, a social reformer, author and traveling evangelist, reportedly had a vision of Jesus calling her to ministry work.
Wheaton had been married at age 18. However, a couple of years into her marriage, both her husband and infant son died. In the years that followed, she became spiritually curious.
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“After wrestling in prayer until about three o’clock in the morning, I seemed held by an invisible power, pure and holy, and was so filled with awe that I feared to speak or move. Soon I heard a wonderful sound, soft, sweet and soothing, like the rustle of angels’ wings,” she recounted in a memoir.
“Jesus stood before me. … In the tender voice of the Holy Spirit came these words: ‘Can you give up all and follow me? Lay your weary, aching head upon my breast. I will never leave you nor forsake you. Lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world.’”
According to Wheaton, after she said yes, “the power of God fell upon me, soul and body, and I was bathed in a sea of glory” and that “the blessing and power remained” even after the vision concluded.
Wheaton became known for her ministry work in prisons in the United States, Canada and Mexico. She also preached outside various facilities, including brothels and bars.
