October the 22nd, 1844 was for many people the worst day of their lives.
They had preached a message of hope about Jesus' soon return, and then all their hopes were dashed.
Friends who had ridiculed them waited with fresh ammunition in the coming days.
It was not an easy time to be a believer.
The Great Disappointment was exactly that— a huge disappointment to those who had eagerly waited for Jesus' return.
And while it caused a lot of embarrassment to those who had fervently preached it, all was not doom and gloom.
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Fervently believing in the return of Jesus,
many of the believers acted practically so that their works corresponded with their faith.
Some of them sold homes earlier in the year, as they believed that they would not need them soon.
Also some of the farmers left their crops in the field, and one of these was named Leonard Hastings.
He had a potato patch right here, and he believed in Jesus' soon return
and thought that by digging his potatoes it would be a denial of his faith.
Some of his friends did not believe in Jesus' soon return and offered to dig the potatoes for him and store them in the barn.
He was sure that he wouldn't need them, and by not digging them he would proclaim his faith.
Some said that the potatoes would rot in the ground while others called him foolish.
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The autumn of 1844 was particularly mild and when he finally dug his potatoes in November
he found he had some of the best potatoes he had ever grown.
Some of the farmers in the area did not fare so well.
You see, in that particular part of
New England there was a potato blight that rotted nearly all the potatoes that have been dug on time.
He had a huge supply of potatoes—enough for himself and some of his neighbors who had called him foolish.
In spring the next year he was one of the few farmers who had seed potatoes due to the blight that happened the year before.
He was then able to sell these at $4.50 a bushel, a huge price in that day.
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Leonard Hastings wasn't the only potato patch preacher.
Silas Guilford, William Miller's brother-in-law, was another one.
He planted a 22-acre field of potatoes here in upstate New York near Oswego, in the spring of 1844.
In the autumn he didn't dig his potatoes, and the snows came early.
In the spring of the next year he said to his wife that he was going to go up to the field and dig the potatoes.
She pleaded with him not to, saying they had already been the joke of the town
and they didn't need to give people another reason to make fun of them.
Besides that, the potatoes would have frozen and they would have rotted in the ground.
He went up to the field with his son Irving
and as he put his fork in the ground he dug up some lovely potatoes.
The whole field as well yielded a huge supply of some of the best potatoes he had ever seen.
He was able to sell them for $4.50 a bushel, a huge price;
pay off his mortgage; and have a good amount of money leftover afterwards.
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God honoured the faith of these believers to provide a testament of His power and watchcare over His children.
Sometimes God allows hard times to come upon us, but we are never alone.
As a mother watches over her children, so God watches over us, His children.
If you are faithful to God then you can be assured
that there are times when God will do the impossible for you to demonstrate His power.
The Bible says that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro across the face of the earth
looking for those whose hearts are perfect towards Him and on whose behalf He can show His power.