One of three

Now, I want to post about three things and they are all separate from each other... so I'll post them separately. 

I'm not the sort of person that will pick a religious movie over a comedy or action.  I'm a religious person, but I wasn't very interested in this new movie out about the Willie Handcart Company.  It's called '17 Miracles'.  But we went tonight, just Judy, Becca, and I as a birthday hurrah for Judy.  There are not many movies that you can say that by the end of the credits the audience is still seated and completely silent.  People stood to leave, still in silence.  It was not an epic movie, but it did remind me of some things.  It brought home to me the eternal importance of the gospel.  As a mother, I always worry in some small way about the well being of my children... but it's usually a physical thing that I worry about... them getting hit by a car, getting sick, etc... This movie reminded me that it was not their physical well being but their spiritual one that I should be focusing on. 

The one miracle that hit me the hardest was the one about a woman that after walking hundreds of miles pregnant with twins, gave birth to them, they died, and she felt hungry... weak... and discouraged.  I've had the kind of depression that comes after giving birth to a child.  But what would it be like if the babies had died and there was little/no food to eat to recover?  She gave up.  She kissed each of her other children and her husband, then sat down on a rock determined not to move again.  There were wolves that followed the company and she knew that it meant death.  One of her daughters would not leave her.  After their family had left, the daughter knelt down and prayed.  As she opened her eyes she saw a casserole. (No Utah Mormon casserole jokes please.) She took it to her mom and they ate.  The mother said later that she often grew discouraged, but every time she did she would remember the great pains that God had taken to keep her alive so long and instead she would pray her gratitude to the Lord instead of her discouragement.  I think that in this generation we don't have the  physical trials that these men, women and children did, but we do often face discouragement.

I may not have to lose my children and bury them in the frozen ground.  I may not ever have to starve or walk a thousand miles to receive the blessings of the temple, but I will be grateful to those that did so that I could grow up with the blessings of the temple and the gospel and so that my children can have the same.