Today in our Sunday School Class we spoke of the changes in the traditional family. There is a battle over the definition of the family. As I ponder the changes during the last forty years, I am thinking that it is "no small thing" to raise a righteous family in these times.
Gratefully, I do feel surrounded by those who care for me and my family. There are many around me I claim as my "support network" and I am so thankful for their influence. I am also aware of the help I have received in raising my family from the other side of the veil.
I think often of the righteous women in my life. My own mother, my grandmothers, my great-grandmothers and my great great grandmothers who all were faithful God-fearing believers.
Did they pray for their posterity as I pray for mine?
Eliza R. Snow was close friends with "Mother Chase". This quote was one of her most famous and indicative of her resilient, powerful spirit. These two friends rejoiced together in the richness of the 'testimony of Jesus' they shared. I think of their friendship and rejoice in my own friends who lift me the way Eliza and Phebe lifted each other on the Pioneer trail in 1847.
From reading the diary of Josephine Streeper, I know she "looked to heaven" as she struggled with her earthly challenges. The loss of many of her infant children, the trial of living as "second wife", the challenges in educating, providing for, and organizing a large family (15 children!) were just some of her trials.
It wasn't always easy dealing with her enterprising but exasperating husband, George O. Chase. When George, was divorced from his first wife, Emily Hyde, Josephine didn't complain in her diary about the negative impact of the large alimony payments now being made to her former "sister wife's" family. She looked to heaven to bear her grievous trials.
As a modern apostle Neil L. Andersen taught, there are "Spiritual Whirlwinds"-tests, temptations, distractions, and challenges-but there is also a Rock under our feet solid and secure (Helaman 5:12). Christ will not leave us comfortless. He will come to us. (John 14:18). He will make my spirit strong and capable of being resilient to the whirlwinds of life. (Ensign, May 2014, pp. 18-21.)
There are sacred promises that have been given to us about our posterity. We hold fast to our faith that the Lord will keep His promises. James and Maxine Owen had similar promises about their nine children. The truth is "Families can be together forever!"
Like our faithful ancestors, we simply go forward with "faith in every footstep". Our path is sure and we just keep moving forward. We remember and honor Henry Clegg who buried his young wife and infant child in Kansas and then took the hand of his three year old son and kept walking. We remember and honor Thomas and Sarah Moulton who were promised safe arrival in Zion and survived the trek in the "ill-fated" Willie Handcart Company with their eight children. It is not a small thing to walk through all the challenges of earth life. These faithful ancestors are my inspiration.
As parents, we are leading a family handcart "company" of 11 amazing children and soon to be 15 grandchildren on the trail of life. We have been given a priceless heritage of hope. If we let Christ be the leader of our family, things will work out. We will leave an inheritance of hope to those who choose to follow our example.
"In the short run, there will be troubles and Satan will roar. And there are things to wait for patiently, in faith, knowing that the Lord acts in His own time and in His own way." (See Henry B. Eyring, Ensign, May 2014, pp. 22)
We just keep trekking.
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