Author Archives: Rebekah Richards

About Rebekah Richards

Born before the internet age, I recall reading my way through the set of encyclopedias in my parents home. In addition to non fiction, I also enjoy a good novel and love the written word. Music was a staple in my childhood home, I love to sing and often sing too loud. When I was 11 years old I went with my grandma and dad to visit Grandma's family in West Virginia where they had lived for generations. I fell in love with "my" people and have spent a lifetime learning their stories. I graduated from Brigham Young University with a BA in History and am passionate about people and their stories, those who have paved the way for the life we live, those who impact our lives daily and those whose lives our decisions will affect. I am the sister to six wonderful siblings, the wife of my best friend and the mother to four very above average children. Most of all I find deep hope in the gospel of Jesus Christ and want to follow Him.

Small Gains

As we celebrate Labor Day and the gains attained by American workers, we also celebrate the achievements of those who worked long hours at back breaking work, in dangerous conditions, believing in something better for their children.

Born in 1810, James Nibley worked in the coal mines of Scotland which earned him a permanent stoop in his lower back. When he married in 1836, his wife, Jean, joined him in the mine carrying the mined coal in a basket on her back from the bottom of the mine up the incline to the top of the mine.  Her career in the mine was ended by the passage of the MInes and Collieries Bill in Parliament in 1842 prohibiting the underground work for women, girls and boys under the age of 10.  Jean found occasional work picking and packing fruit and began to supplement their income by purchasing pins, needles and other common household goods, selling them from the window of their small home.  Her work did not pay for extra activities for the children or for vacations but to maintain the steady diet of porridge and sour milk with meat once a week, usually on a Sunday.


In 1844, James and Jean joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and began to plan for a way to follow a prophets call to gather to Zion.  Though they had scrimped, after eleven years of saving they were far from their goal.  When Jean’s sister, who had emigrated to Rhode Island, sent enough money for Jean’s two oldest children to come and work with her in the textile mills, they decided half way was something.  Borrowing the additional money needed from a local merchant, James and Jean emigrated with their children and joined her sister in Rhode Island where James, their oldest son and two oldest daughters traded the coal mines for the textile mill where they were later joined by their nine year old son who worked as a bobbin boy.   Every spare dollar earned went to pay the debt they had incurred to make the journey and once it was paid every dollar was saved to make the trip west to the Salt Lake valley.  By 1860, they made the journey west by rail and then by wagon arriving with only what they carried to start an unaccustomed life of farming.


The Nibleys put their hope, vision and persistence to what seemed to be an impossible task of following the prophet.  For sixteen years they sacrificed with small gains to follow the counsel to gather to Zion.  It took them so long, yet the determined faith of James and Jean brought not just religious opportunity but economic and educational possibilities to generations of their posterity.  As we follow their example, giving our best efforts to follow the calls of the prophet of God, though the results may be slow, even imperceptible and seemingly impossible, God’s plan to bless our posterity will be worked for generations to come.  

Looking Forward

White Sulphur Springs in West Virginia is home to The Greenbrier, a storied resort that began in 1778 as a place of renewal where people came to take the “healing” and pungent waters from the sulphur springs.  My grandma was the third generation of her family to grow up less than 30 minutes from The Greenbrier in a home on a hill above the Greenbrier River.   They had their own sulphur water, which is an acquired taste, provided first by the spring and then by a well.  Charlie, my dad’s cousin, was the fourth generation to own the home and was raised on sulphur water. So, I was surprised to find on my last visit that Charlie, at great expense, had brought a water line from the city main at the bottom of the hill up through the craggy cliffs of limestone to provide culinary water to the home.  

As I sat at the kitchen table with the fifth generation of our family to live in the home, I realized he was thinking not of himself but of the future.  

In another project, Charlie planted three new peach trees near the house which he nurtured and tended.  They grew tall and beautiful but did not yield any fruit.  Charlie passed away last year at the age of 80 and the family gathered recently to place a memorial stone and scatter his ashes on the land he loved.  To their delight, the peach trees were loaded with delicious fruit.  While his years were waning, he was looking forward.  Though he would never enjoy their fruit, those trees will continue to be a gift from Charlie to his family for years to come.

No matter where we find ourselves on our journey we can look forward in hope and faith to the “Author and Finisher of our faith,”  Jesus Christ.  (Hebrews 12:2) Long after our mortality, He will still be working miracles and writing the beautiful ending of our story. If efforts seem unfruitful, the Holy Spirit whispers, “Don’t give up… Don’t you quit. You keep walking. You keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead…Some blessings come soon, some come late, and some don’t come until heaven; but for those who embrace the gospel of Jesus Christ, they come.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, October 1999) He who sees the sparrow fall, knows you, knows your heart, knows the promises He has made and those promises will bless you, your family and generations to come in ways we can not yet forsee.

Joy of Sacrifice

Eight years younger than her next sibling, my husband’s grandma, Annette, was the only sibling still at home when her parents were called to serve as mission leaders in the Northwestern States Mission headquartered in Portland, Oregon.  Soon after the call, her father proceeded to the mission while her mother stored their belongings and put their affairs in order before she and eleven year old Annette joined him.  
 
In Portland, she was plunged into a new world.  The missionaries who staffed the office lived in the mission home.  They had a devotional each morning with a song and scripture before they knelt in prayer.  Meals were lively discussions of the gospel and missionary work and she spent countless hours at the mission office helping the sisters and elders put mission magazines and pamphlets together. 
 
She recalled, “[Dad] and Mother had to travel a lot to mission and district conferences.  I went with them many times as my father always said he thought children got more out of trips and experiences associated with them than they did at school….I will be forever grateful to my Heavenly Father for allowing me this blessing of accompanying my parents on this mission and partaking of the spirit that such a calling provides and to my parents for letting me be part of everything that took place so that I might gain from such an experience the testimony of missionary service and the effect of the gospel in the lives of the people who espouse it.” (Personal History of Annette Nibley Richards, 1983)
 
Grandma’s tween and early teen years were not “normal”.  Her life was so different from the one she had at home in Salt Lake City.  Many would call her experience a sacrifice but I never heard her speak of it that way.  She only spoke of the blessings and the joy.
 
We each have our own opportunities to sacrifice, whether it is a sacrifice of time to be in the temple, a sacrifice of pride to receive and extend forgiveness, a sacrifice of tithes or fast offerings, the sacrifice required by the daily diligence of prayer and scripture study, or the willingness to embrace the future with faith when our expectations don’t materialize.  
 
“Very few of us will ever be asked to sacrifice our lives for the Savior.  But we are all invited to consecrate our lives to Him…[then] everything else begins to align.  Life no longer feels like a long list of separate efforts held in tenuous balance.  Over time, it all becomes one work.  One joy.  One holy purpose….” (Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, April 2022)
 
As we look to Him in all things, we will be filled with His joy.

Holding Generations

While searching through some photos, I came across a picture of my grandparents holding their new baby, Ann.  As they held my mother they could not see the generations that they held in their arms and the far reaching effects of the love they would give.  
 
Grandpa was just starting his education and it would be years of school and working in Washington D.C. before he became a professor of political science at the University of Utah.  
 
Grandma was beautiful, poised, quick to laugh and unafraid of hard work.  The years would yet reveal the mettle under her surface that allowed her to meet great challenges with grace and a smile.  
 
One afternoon when my children were young, we were visiting Grandpa and Grandma.  As we pulled out of their driveway my son called out, “Slow down, Mom, this is my favorite part!”  I looked up to see my grandparents standing in the picture window of their front room, blowing kisses as we 

drove away.  It was a scene I had witnessed for as long as I can remember, a simple gesture to convey their love repeated over and over again.

“Frequently it is the commonplace tasks…that have the greatest positive effect on the lives of others, as compared with the things that the world so often relates to greatness.”  (President Dallin H. Oaks, April 2018)  The smallest expression or a simple act repeated over and over can incrementally change hearts, minds, and lives through generations.

Spilled Milk

I was recently reminded of the old saying, “There’s no use crying over spilt milk” when a helpful family member noticed that the milk had been left out on the table after breakfast and enthusiastically picked it up before realizing that the lid had only been set on the jug.

It took many hands with rags to wipe up and then clean the milk from the floor, cupboards, and chairs that two twists of the hand could have saved. It was also a small thing for many hands with rags cheerfully working together to clean up the mess. On my hands and knees with a rag, I realized that one of the beauties of the Atonement of Jesus Christ is that when we choose to follow Him many of life’s messes are avoided. Yet, when we as humans become casual in our care of His commandments, when we are less than we could be, He sends help and comes running Himself, drawing us closer to our brothers and sisters and Him as we clean up the mess.

Because of the Atonement of Jesus Christ, both our faithful diligence and our less than valiant efforts can be for our gain. In our goodness and in our weakness it is to Whom we turn that makes all the difference. “The Lord does not require perfect faith for us to have access to His perfect power. But He does ask us to believe….trust in His mercy, His infinite love, and His strengthening, healing and redeeming power. The Savior is never closer to you than when you are facing or climbing a mountain with faith.” (President Russell M. Nelson, April 2021)

He will bless our strengths and our weakness as we turn to Him and follow Him.

All Things For Good

On January 18, 1917, at the age of 37 with a growing family, Stephen L Richards was called and ordained an Apostle of the Lord, Jesus Christ.  “Though his load was heavy and his health no too robust, Stephen L has been able to keep up his schedule because he knows how to relax.  He bears no scars of this ‘age of ulcers’…Always carefully attired, you will find him of a summer day in soft wool shirt and trousers, both neatly pressed, but casual, walking where sunlight filters through tall Douglas fir or sitting before the snug fire that burns in the grate of a modest mountain cabin.” (Gordon B. Hinckley, Improvement Era, July 1951, 514)

Those mountain cabins began in Parley’s Canyon at Mount Air,then to a cabin near Mack’s Inn where the family played and fished in the Snake River.

“In 1934 at a Sunday School conference, Stephen L suffered a slight heart attack and it became progressively more difficult for him to wade the river and whip the stream as he called it…” (L. Stephen Richards, Jr. 1991). He and his wife, Irene, began looking for a place where the family could boat and troll and found that place at Hebgen Lake where they built a cabin in 1944.  
 
A slight heart attack and health that was “no too robust”, events that would not often be seen as blessings, brought the Richards family to Hebgen Lake.  In the intervening eighty years, the Richards family have built or bought cabins to house generations on Hebgen Lake.  Every summer my family is fortunate enough to spend a week with cousins and family boating and playing on the lake and in the forest.  “It has indeed been a place for regeneration for the soul away from the cares of the world and has provided for the family an unusual identity and love for one another.” (Ibid)
 
“With our trust and faith in God, trials and afflictions can be consecrated for our good…. Lived with faith, trials and sacrifices we would never choose can bless us and others in ways never imagined.” (Elder Gerritt W. Gong, April 2024)
 

Journey of Discipleship

Named for her grandmother, Drusilla Dickenson Hartley, my third great grandmother, was born in 1824 in Pennsylvania.  Her mother passed away when she was ten and her father soon followed leaving her an orphan at the age of 11.  Eventually Druscilla moved with her oldest brother’s family to Indiana where in 1842 at the age of 18, she became a single mother giving birth to her first son, Martin.  
 
Though Drusilla did not share the faith of her brother and sister-in-law, in 1844 she and her son moved with them to Macedonia, Illinois.  Her brother began helping in the effort to complete the Nauvoo temple and on August 28, 1844, Drusilla married Joshua Parker who had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints several years earlier in New York City.  Joshua adopted her son, Martin, and they had a child of their own all while persecution intensified in and around Nauvoo.  In February of 1846 wagons ventured out onto the frozen Mississippi, headed west. 
 
Joshua and Drusilla joined other saints who instead of heading west, went south to St. Louis where Drusilla was united by baptism to her husband’s faith in December of 1846.  Over the next several years, Drusilla gave birth to three children, two of whom died as infants and their little family moved first from St. Louis north nearly 200 miles to Bonaparte, Iowa and then 250 miles west to Kanesville, Iowa to rejoin the main body of the church.  
 
On May 21, 1852, Drusilla gave birth to her first daughter, Mary Melissa, in Kanesville, Iowa and in early July, Joshua and Drusilla joined a handcart attachment of the Robert Wimmer Wagon Company.  A cabinet maker and carpenter by trade, Joshua created a suspended cradle on their cart that carried their daughter to the Salt Lake Valley where Drusilla would spend the remaining thirty nine years of her life.  
 
Like Drusilla, each life comes with mistakes, detours, faith, heart break, joy and persistence as we travel our own path.  Through each adventure of our lives, the Savior, Jesus Christ, beckons, “Come, Follow Me”.   Wherever we are, whatever our path, He knows the way and can lead us home, mend our hearts and fulfill our deepest desires.
 
“The Savior invites us, each day, to set aside our comforts and securities and join Him on the journey of discipleship.  There are many bends in this road. There are hills, valleys, and detours. There may even be metaphorical spiders, trolls, and even a dragon or two. But if you stay on the path and trust in God, you will eventually find the way to your glorious destiny and back to your heavenly home.” (Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf,  October 2019)

Change of Heart

This week I found myself in the font room of the baptistry of the temple, squeegeeing water off the floors and handing out towels to those who had participated in offering the ordinance of baptism to those on the other side of the veil.  When I first arrived in the room, a young man who was small in stature was performing baptisms with the authority of Jesus Christ.  Several of those he baptized were much larger than he was but he persevered with a smile.  Two friends came in and asked if they could baptize each other.  The first to perform the ordinance spoke with an impediment and carefully uttered the words of the ordinance. Then he and his friend switched places and his friend continued to serve baptizing several others.  The baptistry coordinator helped a young man in a wheelchair maneuver his chair so he could serve as a witness to the baptisms taking place and then brought paper towels to wipe away any hair that had accumulated around the drains. There were men and women, young and old.  Some came with family, some came with friends and some came alone.    

Though we often create a hierarchy of importance in our minds, the Lord’s measurements and purposes are different.   “For the Lord seeth not as man seeth;…the Lord looketh on the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7)  Regardless of our roles, abilities, or limitations,  we were all in the same room, engaged in the same work and He poured His Spirit out on each of us.  In the process, He was changing our hearts, our minds and our souls with the power of His Spirit.

As we seek to draw near to the Savior and bind ourselves to Him, it will not be a list of accomplishments that bring us there, it will be the refining influence of His Spirit.  “As the Holy Ghost exerts a greater influence in our lives, we progressively and iteratively develop Christlike attributes. Our hearts change. Our disposition to do evil diminishes. Our inclination to do good increases until we only want to ‘do good continually.’ And we thereby access the heavenly power needed to endure to the end. Our faith has increased, and we are ready to repeat the powerful, virtuous cycle again.” (Elder Renlund, April 2024)  

Bit by bit, cycle by cycle, He changes our hearts, He changes us until we are like Him.

Always Very Near

My paternal grandmother’s family began settling the British colony of Virginia early in its history.  Over time they moved into western Virginia and there they have remained for more than two and a half centuries.  My grandma was born less than a mile from the land her great great grandfather settled and she grew up surrounded by aunts, uncles, cousins and family. Many of my dad’s cousins still live in West Virginia near the old homesite and I smile just thinking about being there.  Though I now live nearly two thousand miles away, in so many ways, the hills, the rivers, and especially the people of West Virginia feel like home to me.

This week our daughter played in her first major women’s golf tournament of the summer and we enjoyed visiting with many of the players and parents she spent several years of junior golf with before they all went to college last year.  We exchanged stories from the past year and received updates on how the college golf season had gone for each of our girls.  As the banter continued, I was asked how it was having my daughter so far away as she attended Southern Virginia University.  She thrived in Virginia and as I responded, I also felt grateful for the angels who encircled her there.  From the seen coaches, teammates, roommates, friends, teachers and advisors, there were also unseen angels. 

Southern Virginia University is less than an hour and a half from where my grandma was born and raised and while she does not know many of my dad’s cousins personally, I do, and they know who she is too.  She is their family and in a time of need they would give her aid.  
 
As children of God on earth, each of us is “…separated from Him with whom they had walked and talked, who had given them face-to-face counsel….God knew the challenges they would face, and He certainly knew how lonely and troubled they would sometimes feel. So He watched over His mortal family constantly, heard their prayers always, and sent prophets (and later apostles) to teach, counsel, and guide them. But in times of special need, He sent angels, divine messengers, to bless His children, reassure them that heaven was always very close and that His help was always very near.” (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, April 2008) We are surrounded by angels seen and unseen who walk with us, comfort us and in times of special need lend their aid.  His help is always very near.

Our Secret Garden

I have watched a lot of golf in my life.  Most of those who play at a high level love the game of golf. A good portion of their waking hours are spent thinking about, practicing, talking about, playing and training for their sport.  I have seen players execute shots most golfers only dream about yet few express joy at the accomplishment.  Instead, displays of frustration often follow a missed putt or an errant shot and at the end of the round, conversations rarely recount good shots instead choosing to ruminate on the ones that went astray.

This weekend as I watched the Provo Open golf tournament, I was introduced to Rocky, who was serving as a caddie for a friend. Rocky sees the world differently than most of us and though living in the body of a fifty year old man, he frequently expressed the joy of an eleven year old boy.  After each shot off the tee, Rocky would enthusiastically call out, “Good shot, champ”.  He watched his friend for cues on when to be sad at an errant ball but when a putt rolled into the hole he knew it called for a “Whoo Hoo Hoo Hoo!”  It seemed no one was enjoying the tournament more than Rocky and we enjoyed it more too as Rocky exemplified the timeless truth,  “Both abundance and lack [of abundance] exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend…” (Sarah Ban Breathnach)

In the garden of our lives we can tend to the weeds and worry over them or nurture and enjoy the beauty of the blooms and blossoms.  “In this life, at least, joy and sorrow are inseparable companions.  Like all of you, I have felt my share of disappointment, sorrow, sadness and remorse.  However, I have also experienced for myself the glorious dawn that fills the soul with joy so profound that it can scarcely be kept in…Jesus said, ‘I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.’”  He offers all He has if we choose to see it, practice it and enjoy it.