by Susan Ternyey, 1996 (revised 2022)
With awe I ponder the fortitude of those valiant pioneers of our past. I used to feel I could never measure up to "the heritage they left us." (Hymn, "Firm as the Mountains Around Us")
But one day as I lay in a hospital bed, paralyzed from the hips down after an automobile accident--and being paralyzed was still so strange, overwhelming and new to me--I realized that we handle what life hands to us because we have no choice--or rather, the alternative (checking out of life: mentally, emotionally, or physically) would be even worse! I didn't want to spend my life miserable.
The Lord carried me through those early weeks (and still does, though not as obviously) with the assurance that this is something I can handle. I didn't have to waste life and energy wondering "Why me?" or "If only . . ." I awoke each morning with a hymn in my heart and mind. "Why me?" Why should it always be someone else? "If only" is quicksand, it can swallow you up in wallowing.
When at times I did wish I could check out of life, I would remind myself, "in 6 months this won't seem so bad. I will have climbed over the worst of it." And it was true. It is now 8 (34) years hence, I have learned a lot, and I am happy. Not everything in my life is as I would have it--I still face the usual troubles and traumas of life. From time to time I am faced with soul-wrenching anguish for things I wish I could change. But surely if I can conquer this physical disability, with God's help, I can make it to "the promised land": Life Everlasting, without limitations.
Gratefully, others have gone before me, and pioneered accessibility. Before the accident, I never knew how vital that was. Gratefully, my ancestors went before me, and with their lives forged a trail for me to follow. My mother said she was sure she could not have made it across the plains with the pioneers--yet at 70 years old, with balance issues, she was pushing her "handcart" (wheelbarrow full of dirt) to create a garden from barrenness.
Our forefathers and mothers who crossed the plains of the American west, the rugged mountains, and made the desert "blossom as a rose" were just like you and me. They faced what was before them daily and struggled with it, sometimes heroically, sometimes not. But they kept up the struggle, and at last found "the place which God for us prepared, far away" in Eternity.
If to be a pioneer you must be the first to forge a new trail, a new life, tame a wilderness, remember that the experiences you have can help others who see what you have or are accomplishing and conquering. And when you feel discouragement creeping upon you, sing to yourself or aloud:
Come, come, ye Saints, no toil nor labor fear,
But with joy [get on] your way.
Though hard to you this journey may appear,
Grace shall be [given as you need it].
'Tis better far for us to strive
Our useless cares from us to drive;
Do this, and joy your hearts will swell . . .
Why should we mourn or think our lot is hard?
'Tis not so; [we'll be all right].
Why should we think to earn a great reward
If we now shun the fight?
[Get yourself together], fresh courage take
Our God will never us forsake;
And soon we'll have this tale to tell--
All is well! All is well!
--Hymn, "Come, Come Ye Saints"
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