Emma

I'm trying this again. I just spent 30 minutes writing about the below link when an error occurred and everything was gone. Frustrating to say the least. Anyway.
Last week I saw the new movie about Emma Smith and although there were a few things about it that bothered me (ie: how the polygamy question was addressed), for the most part I thought it was pretty good. I don't think I could've taken one more dead baby. As we were walking out of the theater a woman in front of us said, "I feel like I just came from a funeral." My thoughts exactly. The film spurred me to return to a book that I'd read several years ago Mormon Enigma: Emma Smith by Newell and Avery. This is a great book in my opinion although I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who's testimony might be a little 'shaky' and I certainly wouldn't recommend it to a new convert or to anyone else who's a little squeamish when it comes to Joseph Smith and polygamy. Let's face it, who isn't a little squeamish when it comes to that unless you live in a compound in Texas or Utah somewhere. I digress.
Even though I was reading this book for the second time, I found myself completely rivetted. I couldn't put it down. I couldn't help but ask the typical questions when it comes to Emma and her life post-Joseph. It sounds odd, but I kept hoping and wishing that somehow the ending would change, as if history could miraculously change itself and Joseph's progenitors would embrace the true gospel he helped to restore. Alas, it wasn't to be. History has judged Emma harshly and it's nice to see that she's finally getting the recognition she deserves for bravely facing unbelievable trials and challenges. Joseph Smith was chosen as the prophet of this dispensation long before the earth was made and surely the Lord must have chosen an Emma to stand by and support him in his divine calling. I was touched by the last paragraph of the book taken from a journal by Emily Partridge, one of Joseph's wives and with whom Emma shared her home:
After these many years I can truly say; poor Emma, she could not stand polygamy but she was a good woman and I never wish to stand in her way of happiness and exaltation. I hope the Lord will be merciful to her, and I believe he will. It is an awful thought to contemplate misery of a human being. If the Lord will, my heart says let Emma come up and stand in her place. Perhaps she has done no worse than any of us would have done in her place. Let the Lord be the judge.
I hope I am able to meet Emma one day and thank her for the sacrifices that she made to help establish the kingdom in these latter days.