Everything Stolen, Except Her Faith

One Woman's Faith in the Face of Betrayal

Rhoda Allred couldn’t wait to get back to Utah.

She had been told that moving to Arizona would help her husbands lame knee, but that proved to be false. What was worse? He’d had a stroke while they were living there, rendering him in a worse state than before.

Yes, it was time to go back to Utah… aka what Rhoda considered home, despite having grown up in California.

Since her husband, William, was in such a bad state, it was decided that Rhoda would take him and the younger kids on the train and the older boys would drive the ox team.

Rhoda struggled to get William on the train by herself.

Some young men saw her struggle, and offered to help. Rhoda gladly accepted this generous offer.

Unfortunately, the offer was not kind nor generous, but a way for them to pickpocket the poor man.

They had stolen his wallet which had $300 in it. In todays money, that’s $11.3 k! (source) Their whole life savings, gone in an instant thanks to some greedy men.

I’ve lost my wallet before, but never that kind of money! I couldn’t even imagine. I’m sure Rhoda was devastated. Especially since this wasn’t the first time she was forced to start over.

You see, earlier in their marriage, a Swedish doctor had convinced them that he could help William to walk again in 3 months. They were desperate and spent all their money on this doctor. But, he was a dirty, rotten, liar & William ended up worse thanks to the doctors treatment.

Back let’s get back to the train.

The train was having some issues. First, there was about a six hour delay for them to even depart, due to the rain washing out the railroad tracks.

A few hours after they finally got going, the train approached a bridge that rails had been twisted under the mud. The train screeched loudly. Most of the women on the train let out screeches of their own. But not Rhoda. Despite having just lost everything, she was as cool as a cucumber.

The other women on the train took note of this. Isn’t she afraid?

Women would come up to Rhoda one by one and ask her: “Aren’t you scared?”

Each time, Rhoda responded, “No, the Lord will protect us.”

And she was right.

They made it to Utah safely.

Rhoda and her family were able to start over, again.

I love how she had so much faith in the Lord, even after all that she had been through. I think she truly understood the principle God is good all the time. He is good when you lose your life savings, and he is good when he protects you from a twisty mud covered train track.

Have you seen Heavenly Father’s goodness amidst your trials? I’d love to hear!

Manful , Elvera. “Pioneer Personal History Mrs. Rhoda Luann B. Smith Allred.” J. Willard Marriott Digital Library, 19 Apr. 2016, collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=699534.