Today as I prepared and taught the lesson to my primary class of 10 & 11 year olds, this came as an answer to prayers, a sort of ah-ha/reminder moment
.
Over two hundred members of the Willie and Martin handcart companies died before they could reach the Salt Lake Valley. None of the other handcart companies coming to the valley before or after them suffered so many problems.
Some years after the Martin company made their journey to Salt Lake City, a teacher in a Church class commented how foolish it was for the Martin company to come across the plains when it did. The teacher criticized the Church leaders for allowing a company to make such a journey without more supplies and protection.
An old man sitting in the classroom listened for a few moments and then spoke out, asking that the criticism be stopped. He said, “
Mistake to send the Handcart Company out so late in the season?
Yes. But I was in that company and my wife was in it. …
We suffered beyond anything you can imagine and many died of exposure and starvation, but
did you ever hear a survivor of that company utter a word of criticism? Not one of that company ever apostatized or left the Church, because
everyone of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with him in our extremities [difficulties].
“I have pulled my handcart when I was so weak and weary from illness and lack of food that I could hardly put one foot ahead of the other. I have looked ahead and seen a patch of sand or a hill slope and I have said, I can go only that far
and there I must give up, for I cannot pull the load through it. … I have gone on to that sand and when I reached it, the cart began pushing me. I have looked back many times to see who was pushing my cart, but
my eyes saw no one.
I knew then that the angels of God were there. “Was I sorry that I chose to come by handcart? No. Neither then nor any minute of my life since.
The price we paid to become acquainted with God was a privilege to pay, and I am thankful that I was privileged to come in the Martin Handcart Company”
(quoted in David O. McKay, “Pioneer Women,” p. 8; emphasis in original). So this post is to ask, what is the price we pay to become acquainted with God? What price do each of us pay to become acquainted with our Savior and His Love?
Doctrine and Covenants 24:8 says, Be patient in all thine afflictions, for thou shalt have many; but endure them, for, lo, I am with thee, even unto the end of thy days.
Right now I am thankful for the many answers and blessings I receive daily. More recently there have been times I have looked back to see who was "pushing my cart". I have told myself I will get that test done, that paper written, or those five loads of laundry folded and then I do not think I can go on any more, only to realize that through some miracle I keep going. There are many personal life situations I know of right now that can relate to this. Mine seems unimportant compared to others, yet I know He is there for me and for YOU. I know there are angels helping each of us through our many difficult life experiences and I am thankful for that!
Love, Marilla
