Foreword
In Ellen G. White’s lifetime (1827-1915) psychology, the science which treats of the mind and its powers and functions, was in its infancy. Yet there emerges throughout her writings a distinctive philosophy in which guidelines in this science and to mental health are clearly portrayed.
The purpose of this compilation is to bring the Ellen G. White statements in this broad, important, and sometimes controversial field together for convenient study. Seventh-day Adventists and others with their conviction that Ellen G. White wrote under the influence of the spirit of God treasure guidance in a field so vital to all humanity at a time when schools of psychological thought are varied and changing.
The soundness of Ellen White’s views in the areas of physiology, nutrition, and education, as well as in other fields, has already been demonstrated. There is no doubt that as research in psychology and mental health progresses, her reputation for setting forth sound psychological principles will be still more firmly established. To the devout Adventist this work, Mind, Character, and Personality, will supply many answers. We are certain that as truth unfolds, the positions taken here will appeal more and more to all thoughtful readers.
In these circumstances the occasional appearance of such expressions as “I saw,” “I was shown,” “I have been instructed,” are not only understood, but are welcomed for the assurance they give that the concepts portrayed originated with Him who shaped the human mind.
In assembling this material in the White Estate offices there has been no attempt to select passages that support views advocated by various authorities in the fields of education and psychology. No preconceived views held by the compilers are represented here. Rather, an effort has been made to allow Ellen White to freely propound her views. This has been accomplished by drawing from the vast store of her published writings, penned through six decades, as they appear in current or out-of-print books, pamphlets, her thousands of periodical articles, and in her voluminous manuscript and correspondence files housed in the White Estate vault.
A large portion of Mind, Character, and Personality presents general guiding principles. This is interspersed and supplemented with materials setting forth practical admonitions and counsels in the setting of the relationship of the teacher and the student, the minister and the parishioner, the physician and the patient, or the parent and the child.
The counsels in scores of instances addressed to an executive, minister, physician, teacher, editor, husband, housewife, or youth, may in their revelation of circumstances and advice given, partake somewhat of the form of case histories. Attention should be directed to the principle involved.
Obviously Ellen White did not write as a psychologist. She did not employ terminology in common usage in the field of psychology today. In fact, the reader must even approach her uses of the words “psychology”, “phrenology,” etc., with understanding. The knowledgeable reader, however, will be deeply impressed by her unusual insight into basic principles of psychology, which these writings evince. The Ellen G. White statements on the various aspects of the mind, its vital place in the human experience, its potentials, and the factors that lead to its optimum functioning as drawn together in a logical sequence yield a choice addition to the Ellen G. White books issued posthumously. These help us to comprehend what man is and to understand his relationship to his earthly environment, to God, and to the universe.
Ten years ago, when work was begun on this compilation, it was thought that it would have its widest appeal to those studying particularly in the field of mental health. Hence, an arrangement has been followed that would make statements readily available to those considering classified areas. The researcher should understand that while an attempt has been made to avoid redundancy as much as possible, a few key statements are repeated in different chapters because the student would expect to find them under different appropriate headings. It is now clear that this compilation is of vital interest to all Adventists and to their friends as well, for all of us are involved in the battle for the mind.
Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You that we can always depend on You for all things, especially the state of our mental health and that of those we hold dear to our hearts. Please bless us to be strong and healthy mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually, Because we ask in the Awesome name of Almighty Jesus the Christ we say Thank You. Amen.
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DID YOU KNOW THIS…? 2 Timothy 1:7 KJV — For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. [The WORD OF GOD—It’s the only flesh tthat is safe to eat (meditate on) to live forever!]
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FREE HEALTH TALK* open to the public Thursdays at 5pm at Country Life Natural Foods Store and Vegan/Vegetarian Restaurant, 1217 Eberhart Avenue, Columbus, GA. The topic for Thursday, May 14, is “Sweets & Treats Cooking Class,” with Nicole & Kids.
*$10 exception for cooking classes
https://www.countrylifeonline.com/health-programs
It’s highly unlikely that you have heard any discussion like this about calories and weight, It’s hilarious, shocking, and sobering all at once. Watch…
https://www.youtube.com/live/8mTz7dKHNI8?si=h9rDXVr7-GtlXiUx
WHGR 91.5 FM went LIVE noon on Thanksgiving Day 2025, for Hurtsboro (my childhood home town) and surrounding areas, including Tuskegee, Alabama.
If you want to support Christian programming for these final days, please visit
https://www.ucheepines.org/radio
Thank you!!!
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I coordinate wonderful health and worshipful events and conferences online and onsite as a gospel medical missionary at Uchee Pines, a total plant-based health retreat, where doctors and practitioners specialize in lifestyle medicine. For more details, visit https://www.ucheepines.org/events
Therefore, if at any time you fail to receive this post as a text, please visit
https://baiom.org/author/audreystovall/
where devotionals are first posted daily (almost without fail). From there devotionals are publicly shared to my page on FB, LinkedIn, and Signal (in My Story), and to a response-restricted group on WhatsApp (once again when I am able to find the time to successfully rebuild it).
NOTE: These began as daily texts to encourage my academy roommate and dear friend of nearly 50 years, until she suddenly passed March 2023. Now I continue to compile and send them to anyone who will receive them and to her family in honor of their mom. Lately, I have begun featuring consecutive chapter portions of a select Bible-based book.
If you agree to continue receiving them, then this is my personal gift to you; and in this way, I not only honor God but the memory of a very dear friend whom I desperately miss.
My personal prayer is that God will bless me to find ways to multiply this gift, so that we all may be encouraged to be found faithful in the sight of a Holy God, whenever Christ returns or our eyes are shut in the sleep of death.
It is a prayerful process that leads me to share from my personal study.
So please feel free to forward to your loved ones or to anyone, as God leads you. I’m calling them Barb’s Devotionals.