Aug 18, 2024

Two Thousand Young Warriors by Arnold Friberg

One of the most well-known stories in the Book of Mormon is the story of the two thousand stripling warriors. These warriors consisted of young boys who had never held a weapon up until their first battle. Despite the odds being stacked against them, all two thousand of these men were protected from death due to their faith in the power of God.

I love Alma 57:26 because it describes how the stripling warriors were saved because of their faith in God. The verse reads: “And now, their preservation was astonishing to our whole army, yea, that they should be spared while there was a thousand of our brethren who were slain. And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power.”

I love that they immediately attributed their preservation to the Lord. From this truth we can conclude that they had faith during the whole battle. It’s difficult to remain faithful through hard experiences, but I’ve learned that faith grows the most during those times. 

After I received my mission call to serve in Kansas, I felt that Satan was trying to distract me from my desire to serve the Lord. I felt underqualified and unprepared to serve in this capacity. Regardless, I stayed faithful to the Lord and exercised faith in Him, and as I did so, His power consumed any doubt I had. He truly can preserve us from any harmful situation, and as we exercise faith in Him, God will have more trust in us and will offer us greater strength and power.

In a discourse given in 1881, Wilford Woodruff shared his testimony of the power of God: “We have been sustained by the power of God from the beginning in this day, and nothing short of the power of God could have saved us and brought us through; and nothing but the power of God can preserve us, and nothing but His wisdom can pilot us safe to the high destiny that awaits us.” 

I love Wilford Woodruff’s complete confidence that nothing other than the power of God can preserve us. I also have a testimony of God’s ability to offer us power and save us in any circumstance.

Bekah Marriott is currently attending Brigham Young University and enjoying the cold contrast from her hometown in Mesa, Arizona. She has a passion for creativity and vision, which she hopes to use as an interior designer one day. She spent 18 months serving a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kansas and appreciates the opportunity to work with the Wilford Woodruff Papers team to continue her mission in bringing others closer to Jesus Christ. 

The Wilford Woodruff Papers Foundation’s mission is to digitally preserve and publish Wilford Woodruff’s eyewitness account of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ and make his records universally accessible in order to inspire all people, especially the rising generation, to study and to increase their faith in Jesus Christ. For more information, please explore wilfordwoodruffpapers.org.