Joseph Smith Miraculously Preserved After Being Thrown from a Wagon While Seriously Ill

During the early Nauvoo period in 1839, Joseph Smith was seriously ill. On one occasion when being transported, the wagon hit a rough section of road and he was thrown out of the vehicle with considerable force, landing on the ground in a heap.

Witnesses feared he was fatally injured. However, he arose, shook himself, remounted the wagon, and continued without significant injury. Those present viewed it as a miraculous preservation.

This was one of numerous instances throughout Joseph's life in which he was preserved from what appeared to be certain serious harm or death — from mobs, from accidents, from illness — in fulfillment of the Lord's declaration that he would be preserved until his work was finished.