Historically Ironic

If you are a member of the Church of Jesus Church of Latter-day Saints you are familiar with the history of Nauvoo, Illinois. The Saints experienced much persecution in the 1840's there and eventually were driven from their homes on Feb. 6, 1846, with their martyred prophet dead and their sacred temple burning in the distance; they gathered their meager belongings, their little families and crossed the freezing river to "safety."


Since that time the little town has been restored and the Temple is newly resurrected. We had the opportunity to visit there 8 years ago just days before the new temple was dedicated which was erected on the exact footprint of the original one.

Fast forward to this week when I received this from Barbara saying, "Check this out~They need your staging services in this house."

After I looked at this house I could barely look at the decorated rooms. All I could think about was the beautiful countryside we saw on our way to Nauvoo and the loveliness of that little town as it is today. I was so stricken with how peaceful it looked in these pictures. I fell in love with the house and I immediately felt like I wanted it for our family as a place of refuge from this:


Considering Nauvoo had once been a place of civil unrest and the saint moved west to escape it, I found this photo and the current state of things here in the west historically ironic! Oddly it gave me hope that some sort of peace and order can eventually be a reality here again too.

I feel I know a little more now about what it must have been like for those early saints. Of course we can't really know what they endured, nor have we tasted even a small fraction of it. But for the first time in my life I do understand what the sorrow of being so totally misunderstood feels like. Although no one likes to be persecuted, the blessing in it is the strength and solidarity it brings. I feel so privileged to stand shoulder to shoulder with the Saints. What a blessing. That is where Zion is and where true peace can be found.