The Cart Began Pushing Me

Photo by Papa Michael

"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? Every one of us came through with the absolute knowledge that God lives for we became acquainted with Him in our extremities! " 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 to the 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." - Francis Webster, Martin Handcart Company

There are no adequate words to express my love and absolute gratitude for the pioneers. They suffered more than I can completely comprehend in my mind. They did all that they did because faith encircled their minds. They knew that God was in control and God lead their journey. Trek is just around the corner and I am grateful for the privilege to go and to gain a greater testimony of my brothers and sisters. This quote empowers me to try harder to be better! It pushes me to have greater faith in my journey. Life is hard and sometimes it feels like it never gets better. Sometimes it seems a trial lasts a life time and you can't do it anymore. Sometimes we see a patch of sand or a hill slope. We say we can only go that far and then we must give up because we cannot pull the load through any longer. Suddenly something else is pushing us through and we look back with praise unto our Heavenly Father for His mighty miracles and we thank Him for our trials. Life may be hard but with Heavenly Father and Christ our Savior it's worth going through! I hope we can all read this quote to ourselves when we feel it's just too much to bear and remember they didn't give up and they weren't worry for themselves!