Women in Scripture and the Strength to Endure
Late one night in ancient Jerusalem, a woman presses through a jostling crowd. Weakened by twelve years of hemorrhaging, she stretches out, fingers brushing the hem of Jesus’s garment. In that moment of desperate faith, virtue flows into her and she is healed – a testament to ho‘omau, the Hawaiian concept of perseverance as steadfast endurance . Across centuries and continents, women of sacred scripture have embodied ho‘omau – a Hawaiian word meaning “to endure with diligence,” implying an active, steady continuance even in the bleakest conditions . Their stories captivate the imagination: Queen Esther daring to approach the Persian king unbidden, declaring “if I perish, I perish” ; pouring out her soul in the temple year after year despite bitter barrenness; Sariah trekking through the Arabian wilderness, anxiously awaiting her sons’ return with the brass plates. These narratives are more than inspiring anecdotes. They illustrate a thesis that perseverance – far from passive submission – is an active, transformative force for those who trust in God. This paper explores that thesis by blending scholarly analysis with storytelling: examining how scriptural women demonstrate perseverance as a dynamic virtue (ho‘omau) that shapes destinies, and situating their experiences within linguistic, theological, and historical contexts. In doing so, we will see through vivid examples and doctrine that perseverance, grounded in faith, has the power to refine character and catalyze divine deliverance. The journey will draw on the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Latter-day Saint teachings – a path lit by Hebrew and Greek insights and enriched by the aloha of Hawaiian culture – to reveal how enduring trials “well” can lead to enduring strength.
Every culture and faith has sought words to describe the power to endure. In Hawaiian, ho‘omau encapsulates persevering resilience – literally to make (ho‘o) something continuous or everlasting (mau) . It conveys being “steady, constant, ever” – holding fast like an anchor in life’s storms. Rather than a grim resignation, ho‘omau carries an implicit hope that hardships are but moments in the eternity of life . Likewise, ancient scripture languages frame perseverance as active strength. The Hebrew Bible employs ḥāzaq, “to be strong or firm,” often in commandments to “be strong and of a good courage” . Ḥāzaq implies courageously holding one’s ground – to prevail or persevere . Another Hebrew term, emunah, usually translated “faith” or “faithfulness,” literally means firmness, steadiness, or fidelity. Tellingly, when Moses kept his hands raised during Israel’s battle, “his hands were steady (emunah) until the going down of the sun” – steadiness of hands symbolizing faith in God’s power . In the New Testament, the Greek hupomonē is the word for patient endurance or perseverance. Far from passive patience, hupomonē denotes heroic endurance. As one biblical commentator explains, hupomonē “is not simply the ability to bear things; it is the ability to turn them to greatness and to glory.” Rather than merely sitting under trials, the one who possesses hupomonē rises up to conquer them . This kind of perseverance, the early Christians taught, produces character and hope .
Latter-day Saint scripture and doctrine build on these foundations, casting perseverance (enduring to the end) as an essential, sanctifying principle. “Endure to the end” appears repeatedly in the Book of Mormon as a covenant condition of salvation . A modern revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith during his imprisonment in Liberty Jail distilled the Lord’s counsel on enduring affliction. “My son, peace be unto thy soul,” the Lord soothed, “thine adversity and thine afflictions shall be but a small moment; and then, if thou endure it well, God shall exalt thee on high” . Here “enduring well” suggests more than outlasting hardship – it implies facing trials with faith, dignity, even forgiveness, such that suffering refines the soul instead of hardening it. Another scripture declares the purpose behind this doctrine: “Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy” . In LDS belief, the joy of God’s plan comes only after one endures opposition and proves faithful through trial. The Prophet Joseph Smith, who faced extreme persecutions, learned that all these things shall give experience and be for our good . Modern LDS leaders likewise emphasize persevering as proactive devotion. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland taught that in life’s crucial tasks, we must “stick with it, to persevere, to hang in and hang on” until we obtain the victory promised by God . Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf explained that hope, faith, and endurance are intertwined – true hope “is manifest in confidence, optimism, enthusiasm, and patient perseverance” . Thus, to Latter-day Saints, perseverance is a divine attribute to be cultivated: an active, faithful, and hopeful waiting upon the Lord’s promises.
Having defined the principle, we turn now to the stories that illustrate it. Through a tapestry of narratives – from the Bible, the Book of Mormon, and Latter-day Saint history – we will see how women who ho‘omau (persevere) become agents of change. They do not merely survive their trials; they transform their circumstances and, often, themselves in the process.
The Old Testament offers several portraits of women whose perseverance changed the course of history. Esther, a young Hebrew woman in exile, rises to become Queen of Persia – only to face a terrifying test of loyalty. When a royal edict threatens her people with genocide, Esther initially wavers; approaching the king uninvited could mean death. But at the urging of her cousin Mordecai, she finds the courage to act, fasting and praying for three days. In a dramatic declaration of resolve, Esther tells Mordecai: “I will go in unto the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish” . That stark statement epitomizes perseverance as an active, choosing faith. Esther decides that she will move forward regardless of the outcome. Her courageous ho‘omau becomes the catalyst for divine intervention – the king receives her, the wicked plot is exposed, and the Jewish people are saved. Scholars have noted that the Hebrew text subtly emphasizes Esther’s strength: she “put on royalty” – perhaps suggesting she consciously clothed herself in the authority and courage bestowed upon her . In LDS commentary, Esther is often praised as an example of steadfast bravery. Camille Fronk Olson observes that while God is not mentioned explicitly in the Book of Esther, His providence operates through Esther’s bold perseverance, demonstrating that acting in faith opens the way for miracles . Esther’s story shows that perseverance can mean taking righteous initiative, even at great personal risk, trusting that God “will magnify our efforts” .
Another powerful example is Ruth, whose quiet perseverance shines in everyday life rather than palace intrigue. A young Moabite widow, Ruth refuses to abandon her bereaved Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi. In a moving pledge of loyalty, Ruth entreats Naomi “Intreat me not to leave thee… for whither thou goest, I will go… thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God” . This declaration – essentially a covenant of steadfast love – commits Ruth to a life of hardship in a foreign land. The two widows return to Bethlehem destitute, and Ruth works long days gleaning leftover grain to sustain them. The biblical narrator emphasizes Ruth’s diligence: “she gleaned in the field until even” , laboring from morning light to dusk. Ruth’s perseverance is manifest in these mundane, backbreaking tasks undertaken with quiet faith. Over time, her constancy and kindness catch the attention of Boaz, a wealthy relative who becomes her redeemer-husband. The culmination of Ruth’s persevering journey is extraordinary: she becomes the great-grandmother of King David and an ancestress of Jesus Christ . Thus, Ruth’s humble emunah – her faithful loyalty and hard work day after day – plays a role in the messianic lineage. Her life teaches that perseverance often works indirectly, through “small and simple things” like daily devotion, which the Lord weaves into grand purposes. Indeed, as one LDS scholar noted, the impact of such women “no matter how small [the act]…make a lasting difference,” strengthening families and even the future kingdom . Ruth persevered in love and goodness, and heaven honored her endurance with unexpected joy.
A third Old Testament figure, Hannah, illustrates persevering prayer. Hannah endured years of childlessness; a condition especially painful in her culture. The book of 1 Samuel paints a poignant scene: Hannah weeps and prays at the temple in Shiloh so intensely that the high priest Eli initially thinks she is drunken . In truth, Hannah was “in bitterness of soul” but kept on praying “in the anguish of her heart” . Year after year she returned to that holy place, demonstrating what Jesus would millennia later call “always to pray, and not to faint” . At last, Hannah makes a covenant plea – if God will give her a son, she vows to dedicate him to the Lord’s service. Her perseverance in supplication is answered: she conceives and bears a son, Samuel, who becomes a mighty prophet and judge in Israel. Upon his weaning, remarkably, Hannah follows through on her vow and brings young Samuel to live at the temple, effectively surrendering the very blessing she had sought. This too is a form of spiritual endurance – the willingness to yield one’s will to God’s. In her famous prayer of praise (often called Hannah’s Song) , she exults that “the Lord lifteth the lowly” and turns weakness into strength. LDS author Camille Fronk Olson has noted that Hannah’s story exemplifies how trusting God’s timing can sanctify our desires; Hannah’s prolonged trial of faith refined her into a woman capable of consecrating her most precious gift back to the Lord . Thus, through persevering trust, Hannah not only obtained a righteous desire but also grew in consecration. Her experience anticipates later doctrine: “continue in patience until ye are perfected” .
These Old Testament accounts show varied faces of perseverance: Esther’s brave intervention, Ruth’s loyal industry, Hannah’s patient piety. In each case, a woman’s steadfast endurance – her ho‘omau – is portrayed as the hinge upon which a larger divine plan turns. Their strength to endure was not a passive resignation; it was a power. As Proverbs 31:25 says of a virtuous woman, “Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall rejoice in time to come.” Each of these women “clothed” herself in spiritual strength long before seeing the outcome, and eventually did rejoice . Their legacy sets the stage for the even more personal stories of perseverance in the New Testament.
In the New Testament, Jesus Christ’s ministry offers perhaps the most touching example of a woman’s perseverance rewarded: the woman with an issue of blood. The Gospels of Mark and Luke relate this unnamed woman’s plight in moving detail. Afflicted for twelve years with a hemorrhaging illness that made her ritually unclean, she had “suffered many things of many physicians” and spent all her living in search of a cure, “and was nothing bettered, but rather grew worse . One can only imagine the accumulating despair as each year passed and each remedy failed. Yet, she did not give up hope. Upon hearing of Jesus, she said in her heart, “If I may touch but his clothes, I shall be whole” . In that critical moment – weak, impoverished, probably shunned by society – she summoned the courage to act on this last hope. She edged through the throng surrounding Jesus and managed to grasp the fringe of his garment. Immediately, the bleeding stopped. Jesus, perceiving that healing power had gone out of Him, turned and asked who had touched Him. Trembling, the woman came forward and confessed all. Rather than rebuking her presumption, Jesus tenderly affirmed her faith: “Daughter, be of good comfort: thy faith hath made thee whole” . The Greek word for “made whole” (sōzō) also means “saved.” In a very real sense, her hupomonē – her persistent faith in seeking Christ – resulted not only in physical healing but spiritual salvation. Early Christian commentators highlighted her example of earnest persistence. For instance, the Gospel writers sandwich her story in the middle of another (the raising of Jairus’s daughter), perhaps to underscore that an “unclean” outcast could, through persevering faith, receive Jesus’s immediate attention and grace. Modern readers often overlook how long twelve years must have felt to her. As one Christian blogger observed, “Giving up after twelve years would seem the obvious choice… but perseverance and faith in God yield a better result.” Her story affirms that no time of suffering is too lengthy for the Lord’s compassion, if we continue to seek Him. It resonates with the LDS scriptural promise that “they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength” . The woman with the issue of blood waited on the Lord – actively, hopefully – and in the end, her trust was not in vain.
The New Testament also includes examples of women whose perseverance is manifest in devotion to Christ despite societal challenges. The Syrophoenician (Canaanite) woman who pleaded with Jesus to heal her daughter is one such case . Initially, Jesus seemed to rebuff her, yet she persisted, even accepting a humbling analogy that likened her to a dog seeking crumbs. Jesus then praised, “O woman, great is thy faith,” and granted her request. Her tenacity in seeking divine mercy – pressing through silence and potential offense – exemplifies persevering faith that refuses to be discouraged. Similarly, the sisters Mary and Martha of Bethany show perseverance in discipleship. Martha’s steadfast service and Mary’s continual learning at Jesus’s feet demonstrate loyalty through both life’s mundane duties and its gravest sorrows. When their brother Lazarus died, both sisters expressed to Jesus their lingering faith— “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died… but I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee” . Even in grief, they did not cast away their confidence in Christ. Their trust was rewarded when Jesus raised Lazarus, turning their mourning into joy.
From these New Testament witnesses, we learn that perseverance is an expression of faith. It is faith stretched out over time and obstacle – a faith that will not let go until the Lord’s blessing is obtained . Jesus Himself highlighted the virtue of persistent faith in parables: the importuning widow who finally convinced a judge by her continual pleas , or the friend knocking repeatedly by night until the door was opened . In these teachings, perseverance is portrayed as a catalyst for divine response. Modern apostle Elder Jeffrey R. Holland echoed this principle, reassuring those “who are trying hard and living right” yet still struggling, to “not quit. Don’t you give up… keep walking, keep trying. There is help and happiness ahead.” The woman healed by touching Christ’s robe and the other New Testament heroines show that such help and happiness do come – often after a trial of our faith that lasts longer or cuts deeper than we would wish, but “with God nothing shall be impossible” to those who endure in believing.
The Book of Mormon provides additional profiles of women who exemplified perseverance. Sariah, the wife of the prophet Lehi, is one of the first women we meet in the Book of Mormon. She leaves her comfortable home in Jerusalem to follow her husband into the wilderness, a journey fraught with uncertainty. When their sons return to Jerusalem to obtain sacred records, Sariah passes through a crucible of anxiety, fearing she has lost her children. In her distress she complains against Lehi, calling him “a visionary man” – a rare glimpse of her vulnerability. Yet as soon as her sons miraculously return safe, Sariah rejoices and testifies, “Now I know of a surety that the Lord hath commanded my husband to flee into the wilderness” . This oscillation from doubt to faith is profoundly human. Sariah’s journey was not without moments of weakness, but what stands out is that she continued on the journey. Despite her earlier misgivings, she persevered with Lehi through years in the wilderness, across the ocean, and into a new land, raising a righteous family that would become a nation. One LDS scholar concluded from Sariah’s story that God often leads us to places where no one can help us but Him, so that our faith can grow . Sariah ho‘omau-ed through hardships that tested the limits of endurance for any mother, and in the process, she gained an unshakable witness of God’s deliverance. Her enduring strength then fortified the next generation – notably her son Nephi, whose own resilient faith surely owes something to the model of perseverance he saw in both his parents.
Another compelling figure is Abish, a Lamanite woman in the Book of Mormon who appears only briefly but significantly. Abish had been converted to the Lord “for many years, on account of a remarkable vision of her father” . In a society that did not accept the Nephite faith, Abish’s conversion was a private matter – “not even known” among her people, the record says. Imagine the patience of this faithful servant, holding the truth in her heart for perhaps decades, waiting for God to open a way for her to share it. That moment finally came when the Nephite missionary Ammon’s preaching caused a spiritual outpouring that left the Lamanite King Lamoni, his wife, and others overcome by the Spirit of God. Sensing divine timing, Abish ran from house to house to call the people to witness what the Lord had done. Though her efforts initially led to contention, the situation resolved miraculously – the queen testified, the king testified, and many were converted, likely vindicating Abish’s long-held faith. Abish’s perseverance was twofold: years of quietly believing, followed by immediate action when the moment was right. She exemplifies the motto “Don’t give up, just do it when God prompts,” as Camille Fronk Olson paraphrased: Abish “tells me, ‘don’t wait for [recognition], just do it!’ God knows how to give compensatory blessings and bring about miracles out of our feeble best efforts.” In Abish we see that enduring faith can make one a prepared instrument in God’s hands when opportunities arise. Her steady testimony, maintained in obscurity, became the spark that ignited conversion among an entire kingdom.
Perhaps the most celebrated examples of perseverance in the Book of Mormon are the mothers of the stripling warriors. In the book of Alma we read of two thousand young men who volunteered to fight in place of their fathers to defend their people (these are often called the “stripling warriors” or sons of Helaman). These youths had been taught by their mothers “that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them” . One of the young soldiers famously said, “We do not doubt our mothers knew it” . Consider the context behind that extraordinary faith: their mothers were part of a group of Lamanite converts who had made a covenant of peace, burying their weapons of war as a sign of their conversion . When danger came, these women refused to break their covenant, even at the risk of their own lives – a profound act of spiritual perseverance. Instead, their sons stepped forward to fight for their liberty. The record doesn’t give the names of these mothers, but it immortalizes their influence. The young men’s unwavering trust in God directly reflected the teachings and example of their mothers. Remarkably, in the ensuing battles, not one of the 2,000 is killed, just as they had been promised by prophecy . Helaman attributes this miraculous preservation to the faith and purity instilled in them: “they are strict to remember the Lord their God from day to day; yea, they do observe to keep his statutes… according to the law of Moses” . This steadfastness was a maternal legacy. We can infer the perseverance of those mothers in years prior – many were likely widows (their husbands having been martyred for the covenant of peace), who raised fatherless children in the gospel. Camille Fronk Olson invites us to imagine “how often they would have gone to sleep at night and wondered, ‘Am I doing enough? … How can I do this without a father figure in the home?’ – feeling frustrated and ineffective” . Yet they pressed on “day in and day out,” teaching their sons to trust God. Years later, when the reports came from the battlefield recounting their sons’ courage and miraculous preservation, those mothers would have known that their quiet perseverance had borne fruit . Their story shows that perseverance can span generations: the strength to endure in faith can overflow like a blessing into the next generation, as depicted in the Hawaiian concept of capturing blessings that “spill over to the next generation” . The stripling warriors and their mothers affirm a truth repeated in LDS teachings: no righteous effort is ever wasted. The fruits of perseverance may not be immediate, but they are sure.
In sum, the Book of Mormon contributes additional dimensions to our study of perseverance. We see family-based endurance (Sariah), individual, long-term fidelity (Abish), and parental fortitude that empowers children (the stripling warriors’ mothers). Notably, all these are tied to covenant faith – these women were anchored by covenants with God that gave them a larger perspective and strength beyond their own. As the Book of Mormon prophet Nephi stated, they knew “in whom [they] had trusted” . Their trust in God’s promises enabled them to bear uncertainty, loneliness, and fear with a “perfect brightness of hope” . Such hope in turn fueled their perseverance; indeed, hope and endurance are often twinned in scripture . In the lives of these women, we witness perseverance as a divine partnership – they did all that lay within their power, and then the Lord did the rest . Their legacy set a pattern for future generations of faithful women in the Restoration era of the 19th century, to which we now turn.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, from its foundation in 1830, has been blessed by women who carried the torch of perseverance in remarkably challenging circumstances. Their historical experiences echo the scriptural narratives, often in dramatic fashion. Mary Fielding Smith stands as one of the iconic pioneer examples of steadfast endurance. The widow of Hyrum Smith (brother of the Prophet Joseph), Mary Fielding was left in 1844 to lead her family – including a young son, Joseph F. Smith – in the westward exodus of the Latter-day Saints. Frail in health but fierce in spirit, Mary faced the journey that defeated many strong men. On one occasion during the trek, Mary’s small company’s oxen were giving out. When a criticizing fellow traveler insisted her party would be a “burden” on the company, Mary did something astonishing: she produced consecrated oil and asked the brethren with her to give a priesthood blessing to her failing ox – just as if it were a person – that it might be healed . They complied, exercising faith, and immediately the ox rose up healthy and pulled the wagon as if nothing had happened . This miracle was repeated with other oxen that fell, and Mary’s company moved on, leaving the skeptics confounded . On another occasion, Mary’s oxen wandered off and got lost in the prairie. Rather than despair, she knelt and prayed for divine aid. Remarkably, she was guided to find her lost animals, enabling her family to continue their journey . Through blizzards, illness, and exhaustion, Mary Fielding pressed forward and ultimately arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in 1848. Her grit did not go unnoticed. Years later, President Heber C. Kimball would recount, “Sister Mary Fielding Smith… has proven herself as faithful as any woman that ever lived on the earth.” Mary’s perseverance was both practical and spiritual – she did everything in her power (driving wagons, fixing broken wheels, nursing the sick by night) and combined it with unwavering faith in God. Her son, Joseph F. Smith, who became the sixth President of the Church, cherished her example, crediting his mother’s faith and fortitude for planting in him a lifelong commitment to the gospel . Mary Fielding Smith’s life declares that endurance in righteousness can yield generational blessings, much like the mothers of the stripling warriors.
Another towering figure in LDS history is Eliza R. Snow, a woman who endured much and turned her trials into triumphs for the community. Eliza was a poet, educator, and leader – eventually called as the second General President of the Relief Society (the Church’s women’s organization) in the 1860s. In Nauvoo, she had been sealed as a plural wife to the Prophet Joseph Smith; after the martyrdom of Joseph and the migration west, she was sealed to Brigham Young. Eliza never had children of her own, but she became a “mother in Israel” to the entire community of Latter-day Saint women. Her life was not easy: she had to flee Missouri during violent persecutions, then later Nauvoo; she crossed the plains by wagon; she knew personal loneliness and the struggles that plural marriage brought. Yet, those who knew her described Eliza Snow as “faithful, untiring, unflinching” in building up the Church . One biographer noted that she was “knowledgeable, organized… and she followed the promptings of the Spirit” . Eliza’s own words best reveal the source of her perseverance. “I will go forward,” she famously said. “I will smile at the rage of the tempest, and ride fearlessly and triumphantly across the boisterous ocean of circumstance… and the ‘testimony of Jesus’ will light up a lamp that will guide my vision through the portals of immortality.” This declaration, penned in the 19th century, reads like a personal anthem of ho‘omau. Eliza Snow refused to be daunted by storms (literal or figurative); her faith in Jesus Christ was the light carrying her through every dark voyage. And she indeed “went forward,” organizing and leading. In Utah, she was instrumental in the Relief Society’s reconstitution and expansion. She organized women’s grain-saving efforts, launched programs for women’s education, and was a champion of women’s rights (including suffrage) – endeavors that required patience and long vision. During the 1870s and 1880s, Latter-day Saint women (under Eliza and later leaders) petitioned and fought for the right to vote, engaged with national women’s movements, and established a hospital – all while also defending their faith amid federal anti-polygamy laws. This era demanded resilience. Emmeline B. Wells, a protegee of Eliza and later the fifth Relief Society president, lost her husband, saw her people disenfranchised, yet continued lobbying and writing for decades. In her personal diary, Emmeline in 1888 wrote during a low point, “People don’t know the pain I’m suffering inside. But you just get back to work and carry forth.” That sentence exemplifies the pioneer woman’s ethos of perseverance: acknowledge the pain, then keep pressing on. It is no coincidence that President Spencer W. Kimball later said of the Relief Society sisters, “they have a seemingly endless capacity for work and endurance” (in Daughters in My Kingdom, 2011, p. 7) . The foundation for that compliment was laid by women like Eliza R. Snow and her contemporaries, whose indefatigable perseverance amid persecution and upheaval secured the future of the Church.
The stories of Jane Manning James and other pioneer sisters further demonstrate perseverance across racial and social challenges. Jane Manning James was an African American woman who joined the LDS Church in the 1840s. Born free in Connecticut, Jane and several family members embraced the gospel and felt compelled to gather with the Saints. Denied passage on a steamship due to prejudice, Jane led her family on foot in an 800-mile trek to Nauvoo – a journey of almost incomprehensible fortitude for a young black woman in that era . They walked until their shoes wore out, then continued barefoot, bleeding but undeterred, arriving in Nauvoo in 1843. Jane later recalled that “we went on our way rejoicing” despite the hardship, sustained by their newfound faith . In Nauvoo, Jane lived with the Prophet Joseph and Emma Smith for a time, forming a close bond. Her trials were not over, however. She journeyed west with the pioneers to Utah, endured poverty and the loss of several children, and, most painfully, faced the reality that as a black Latter-day Saint in the 19th century, she was barred from certain temple blessings (due to the race-based priesthood and temple restrictions of that time). Jane petitioned Church leaders multiple times later in life for permission to receive her endowment and sealing ordinances. Though she was repeatedly denied full participation (a heart-wrenching trial of faith), Jane never quit the Church nor lost her faith. She was finally allowed a surrogate temple blessing (she was “adopted” posthumously to Joseph Smith’s family as a token), and when she died in 1908, she was still bearing testimony. “My faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ… is as strong today, nay, if possible stronger, than it was the day I was first baptized,” Jane wrote in her later years . Such a statement, after a lifetime of being asked to persevere without full understanding, is profoundly moving. It epitomizes the purest form of endurance – trusting God’s promises even when one’s righteous desires are deferred. Latter-day Saint history honors Jane Manning James today as a pioneer of towering faith and humility, a witness that “all are alike unto God” (2 Nephi 26:33). Her story adds a critical insight: perseverance sometimes means holding onto faith in the face of injustice or disappointment, believing that the Lord will eventually set all things right. Indeed, the Church’s stance on race later changed in 1978, long after Jane’s passing, extending temple blessings to all. One might view that as a fulfillment, beyond the veil, of Jane’s patient hope.
Numerous other Latter-day Saint women could be cited – Emma Smith, who remained in Nauvoo as a widow and persevered in her own sphere; Eliza L. Carver, who amputated her own frostbitten toes and kept walking during the 1856 Willie handcart rescue; or the collective sisterhood of the Relief Society, whose official motto “Charity never faileth” implicitly testifies of enduring love. From the gritty work of delivering babies on the frontier to the refined work of guiding a family through modern challenges, Latter-day Saint women have shown a resilience that fulfills Joel’s prophecy: “I will pour out my spirit upon… your daughters” – and those spirit-filled daughters will endure and “dream dreams” of Zion through the toughest of times. In Hawaiian terms, they ho‘omau: they perpetuate goodness, they continue steadfastly.
As we conclude this exploration, our hearts are drawn to the profound, at times piercing, reflections that emerge from these stories of perseverance. What is the common thread binding Esther in her royal risk, the woman of faith clinging to Christ’s hem, Abish awaiting God’s timing, and Mary Fielding crossing the plains? It is a conviction that perseverance is not in vain – that beyond the trial lies triumph, and beyond the cross lies a crown. These women – scriptural and historical – testify that endurance in righteousness changes things. Sometimes it changes external circumstances (deliverance from danger, healing from illness, the opening of hearts); always it changes the person who endures. In the refiner’s fire of prolonged trial, they gained qualities of courage, humility, and trust that perhaps no other way could engender. In a very real sense, perseverance is a creative force – it created a future for a nation in Esther’s case, created a lineage for the House of Israel in Ruth’s case, created a thriving covenant community in the pioneer women’s case. Perseverance creates and transforms.
Latter-day Saint doctrine invites all disciples – men and women – to endure to the end. But in highlighting women’s experiences, we gain unique insights. We see that women often endure in ways society may overlook: the silent sorrow of Hannah’s prayers, the steady toil of a widow like the scriptural “certain woman” who fed Elijah, or the persistent advocacy of a suffragist like Emmeline B. Wells. These kinds of perseverance rarely make headlines, but they are known to God and recorded in “letters of gold” , as one pioneer woman wrote. The strength of the Church today owes an incalculable debt to such unsung perseverance. President Gordon B. Hinckley once paid tribute to the women of the Church for their faith and endurance, saying “there is a certain resilience… in the spirit of our sisters that is truly inspiring.” That resilience is the spirit of ho‘omau – a divine spark that enables one to rise each time life knocks them down, and to do so with grace.
It is fitting to end with an image that combines scholarly and poetic reflection: Eliza R. Snow’s metaphor of the tempest-tossed ocean. We are all, in mortality, voyagers on sometimes boisterous seas of circumstance. The women we have discussed were no strangers to waves and storms. But like skilled navigators, they set their course by the fixed star of faith – the “testimony of Jesus” – and held the rudder of perseverance firmly. Some, like Eliza, even managed to smile at the storm, not because it was easy, but because they knew whom they had trusted and could see by the eye of faith the safe harbor ahead . Their example invites us to do likewise. When we feel our strength fail, we can remember Esther’s bravery, Ruth’s loyalty, Abish’s diligence, Mary Fielding’s prayers. We can remember the Savior’s promise to the Prophet Joseph in Liberty Jail: “hold on thy way… for God shall be with you forever and ever” . “Hold on thy way” is another way of saying ho‘omau: persist, continue forward. In the darkest hours, one can imagine these noble women, our sisters from ages past, standing with us in spirit, whispering encouragement: E ho‘omau! – keep going, endure it well.
In one of the most tender scenes of the New Testament, as Jesus hung on the cross, it was women – faithful women like Mary Magdalene and Mary His mother – who stood by until the end . They were last at the cross and first at the empty tomb, coming with spices at dawn to anoint the Lord’s body . Their persevering devotion placed them at the threshold of the greatest miracle of all – the Resurrection. So it is with all who endure in following Christ: eventually, dawn breaks, and what was dead springs forth in newness of life. The power of perseverance lies in that eventual, glorious reversal. As the Apostle Paul wrote, “Let us not be weary in well-doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not” . The women of scripture and history who did not faint now reap the admiration of generations. More importantly, they have secured for themselves “an inheritance incorruptible” and the joy that God has promised. Their lives, researched and remembered here, stand as a testament that perseverance – ho‘omau – truly is an active, transformative strength. It is the strength to endure and to become. May we likewise press forward with such strength, that our stories, too, might add to this great tapestry of enduring faith.
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