This is one of those stories that I try to read on a regular basis, especially when I am facing trials that don't seem to have an apparent solution. At the end of the article, Elder Oaks teaches that the Lord blesses us when we "are on the move." I have found this to be true so many times in my own life.
"The obstacles before us are never as great as the power behind us"
Reach Out and Climb!
Making it to
the top means doing the difficult, even when you think you can’t.
How
do we respond when we are confronted with a task that seems to be impossible?
All
of us face obstacles. All of us have challenges. We all walk paths that lead us
toward heights we think we cannot ascend. Sooner or later we all stand at the
foot of cliffs we think we cannot scale.
In
1895 my great-grandfather, Abinadi Olsen, was called on a mission to the Samoan
Islands. Obedient to the call of the prophet, he left his wife and four small
children, including my maternal grandmother, Chasty Magdalene, in the town of
Castle Dale, Utah. He traveled by train and ship to the mission headquarters in
Apia, a journey of 26 days. His first assignment was to labor on the island of
Tutuila.
After many weeks
of living in what he called a grass hut, eating strange food, suffering severe
illnesses, and struggling to learn the Samoan language, he seemed to be making
no progress in his missionary work. Homesick and
discouraged, he seriously considered boarding a boat back to Apia and telling
the mission president he didn’t want to waste any more time in Samoa. The
obstacles to the accomplishment of his mission seemed insurmountable, and he
wished to return to his wife and children, who were struggling to support him
in the mission field.
A
friend who heard Abinadi Olsen describe the experience some years after his
return, quoted him as follows:
“Then
one night, as I lay on my mat on the floor of my hut, a strange man entered and
in my own language told me to get up and follow him. His manner was such that I
had to obey. He led me out through the village and directly up against the face
of a perpendicular solid rock cliff. ‘That’s strange,’ thought I. ‘I’ve never seen
that here before,’ and just then the stranger said, ‘I want you to climb that
cliff.’
“I
took another look and then in bewilderment said, ‘I can’t. It’s impossible!’
“‘How
do you know you can’t? You haven’t tried,’ said my guide.
“‘But
anyone can see’—I started to say in objection. But he cut in with, ‘Begin
climbing. Reach up with your hand—now with your foot.’
“As
I reached, under orders that I dared not disobey, a niche seemed to open in the
solid rock cliff and I caught hold. Then with my one foot I caught a toe hold.
“‘Now
go ahead,’ he ordered. ‘Reach with your other hand,’ and as I did so another
place opened up, and to my surprise the cliff began to recede; climbing became
easier, and I continued the ascent without difficulty until, suddenly, I found
myself lying on my pallet back in my hut. The stranger was gone!
“‘Why has this
experience come to me?’ I asked myself. The answer came quickly. I had been up
against an imaginary cliff for those three months. I had not reached out my
hand to begin the climb. I hadn’t really made the effort I should have made to
learn the language and surmount my other problems” (Fenton L. Williams, “On
Doing the Impossible,” Improvement Era, Aug.
1957, p. 554).
It
is hardly necessary to add that Abinadi Olsen did not leave the mission. He
labored for three and a half years, until released by appropriate authority. He
was an exceptionally effective missionary, and he was a faithful member of the
Church for the rest of his life.
When we face seemingly insurmountable obstacles
in the fulfillment of righteous responsibilities, we should remember that when
we are involved in the work of the Lord, the obstacles before us are never as
great as the power behind us. We should reach out and climb. Handholds will
only be found by hands that are outstretched. Footholds are only for feet that
are on the move.
The
scriptures record many instances when the Lord blessed those who tried to do
the impossible. Nothing is impossible to the Lord.
When Moses led the
children of Israel out of Egypt, they encamped by the Red Sea. The Egyptians
thought the Israelites were trapped. Their backs were to the sea as they faced
the pursuing chariots of Pharaoh. “Fear ye not, …” Moses declared, for “the
Lord shall fight for you” (Ex. 14:13–14). The Lord then told Moses to command the children of Israel
“that they go forward” into the sea (Ex. 14:15). As they did so, Moses stretched out his rod over the sea, as
commanded, and the children of Israel went through the sea on dry ground (Ex. 14:16, 22). They had gone forward in faith, and what seemed impossible
had occurred.
When Nephi was
directed to return to Jerusalem to obtain the sacred records from Laban, he
went forth in faith to do as he was commanded, even though he did not see how
this could be done. Nephi knew that the Lord would give no commandment, save he
would prepare a way to accomplish the thing he had commanded (1 Ne. 3:7). Through Nephi’s faith and initiative he accomplished his
mission, and generations have been blessed by the outcome.
Nothing is
impossible to those who keep God’s commandments and follow his directions. But the blessings that carry us over
obstacles do not precede our efforts; they follow them. The Liahona was
given to guide Lehi and his children, but it came after years in the desert,
not when they were still in Jerusalem. The word of the Lord on the organization
of the Camp of Israel (see D&C 136) didn’t come in Nauvoo. It came on the west bank of the
Missouri near present-day Omaha, almost a year after the Saints had left
Nauvoo.
What
do we do when we face obstacles in the fulfillment of righteous
responsibilities? We reach out and climb! The blessings that solve problems and
carry us over obstacles come to persons who are on the move.
