We Cannot Cross Alone

William and Rachel Atkin were my great-great-grandparents. They were crossing the plains with their two small children (Esther who was 2 and William Jr an infant) as part of the George Rowley handcart company. As they reached the Green River in Wyoming, the company was running dangerously low on food.

The river was cold, wide, and had a strong current. Four men would carry each handcart across the river and the women would link arms in groups of up to nine to prevent themselves from being swept away by the current as they crossed.

There was a small settlement nearby the Green River crossing with a mail station (like an early post office). William and Rachel decided to go to the mail station and he was able to do some butcher work for them to earn some much needed food and supplies.

When they returned to the crossing they found that the entire company had finished crossing the river without them and had moved on. In despair, William turned to Rachel and said, "We cannot cross this river alone." Rachel replied, "No, but the Lord will help us over." At Rachel's response, his heart took courage and he said, "Yes, He surely will."

In his journal, William recorded the following:

"We arranged our children and other things in our cart, then knelt down on the ground. In all humbleness, and in the sincerity of our souls we told our Heavenly Father that we were doing all in our power to keep His commandments to gather to the land of Zion, and now we had come to this river, and we could not cross it alone, and we knew that all power was in His hand, and we relied on Him to assist us over."

"We started into the [river] and as we did we could see the deep water just ahead of us. And the next step we expected to step into the deep water, but when we took that step, the deep water was still ahead. And thus it was all the way across. And to our surprise, we had not wet the axle of our cart. And we were thankful to our Heavenly Father that we landed on the other bank in safety."

William, Rachel, and their two children arrived safely in Utah about two months behind the rest of their company

The Lord loves us and is aware of us. He will help us to accomplish the things he has asked us to do if we will have faith and rely on Him.

 

Jen and I were asked to be a stake trek Ma and Pa. Each person going on trek was asked to research an ancestor that was some kind of pioneer that you would "walk for" on trek. I chose William Atkin. During the first day of trek I injured my knee. I was able to walk fine during the day but by nighttime I could hardly hobble more than a few steps before the pain was really bad. I was worried that I would not be able to complete trek. I believe it was an IT band strain, which I have had once before and that time it took me a week to recover. 

 

Then I remembered the story of William and Rachel Atkin and I decided to try my faith. I knew that I had been asked to complete an assignment and that if it was the Lord's will for me to complete the assignment that he could heal me. I said a prayer explaining that I wanted to finish trek and asking that the Lord would help me.

In the morning my knee felt fine and I did not have any more trouble with my knee for the rest of trek.

 

Source: Family Journals and on-line research