The life of Ann Rowley, a pioneer woman
in the early days of the Church, demonstrates
how exercising faith impacts our lives for good.
A widow from England, Sister Rowley
exercised her faith to answer the prophet's call
to gather to Zion.
She was a member of the Willie handcart company, which
encountered deep snowdrifts along the trail
in the fall of 1856.
They had reached a point in the trek
where her seven children were literally starving.
She wrote: "It hurt me to see my children go hungry.
Night was coming and there was no food for the evening meal.
I asked God's help as I always did.
I got on my knees, remembering two hard sea
biscuits that had been left over from the sea voyage.
They were not large, and were so hard they couldn't be broken.
Surely, that was not enough to feed 8 people,
but 5 loaves and 2 fishes were not
enough to feed 5,000 people either, but through a miracle,
Jesus had done it.
So, with God's help, nothing is impossible.
I found the biscuits and put them in a dutch oven
and covered them with water and asked for God's blessing.
Then I put the lid on the pan and set it on the coals.
When I took off the lid a little later,
I found the pan filled with food.
I kneeled with my family and thanked God for his goodness.
That night my family had sufficient food."