beyond victimhood

Beyond Victimhood – Day 57: Light the World, Build the Kingdom

171 years ago (July 24, 1847) pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. An extermination order by the governor of Missouri drove members of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (whom Missourians derogatorily called “Mormons”) out of that state.

Their women raped and people tortured and murdered in the wake of this unconstitutional decree, the LDS people fled to build a refuge on the swamp land of Commerce IL. They transformed the malaria-infested marsh into the beautiful city of Nauvoo. By the time they were done, Nauvoo was larger than Chicago of the day.

A few years later, their leader (Joseph Smith Jr) and his brother Hyrum were falsely imprisoned and murderer by a mob in Carthage Jail.

Forced to flee their beautiful Nauvoo as mobs burned their temple, members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints fled with wagons and handcarts across the nation, traveling 1500 miles to their desert destination. One explorer, having been to Utah, said he’d give them $100 if they could grow even a bushel of corn there.

Through blood, sweat and tears the LDS people transformed the desert into a rose and continue to dot the landscape with gorgeous, glowing temples to their God.

If any people deserved to wallow in victimhood, give up, and abandon hope, these men, women and children did. But they carried on, true to their faith, devoted to their God. Out of their sacrifice, miracles continue to flow.

The LDS pioneers are testaments to the power available to those who understand the Law of Polarity. This universal law states that if something is a little bad, there is a little good in it. If something is catastrophic, there is something phenomenal inside it.

Are you looking for the phenomenal inside your hardships? It is there!

 

Featured Image: Mary Fielding Smith and Joseph F. Smith Crossing the Plains, by Glen S. Hopkinson (62608); GAK 412; GAB 101; Primary manual 5-49; Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph F. Smith (1998), xiv, 21–22

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