The biggest battle that ever was won

For those of you unfamiliar with what a Primary program is, or for that matter what a Primary is,  let me explain.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints children from age 3-11 attend weekly Sunday classes called Primary. Once a year for our Sacrament meeting, instead of regular speakers, the Primary puts on the entire program. They usually have a theme and the children of all ages get up and speak. Sometimes they read their lines, sometimes their lines are whispered to them. Sometimes you can't tell a word that comes out of the little ones mouths. There is always one child that stares at the congregation. There is always one who waves happily to the parents in the pews. Then there is the 11 year old girl who towers over everybody else standing in the back row. It is an adorable and fun site to see. It is quite a remarkable and unique event if you think about it. Not only are LDS meetings different in that the members of the congregation give weekly mini-sermons, or "talks", but to have children get up and speak to a potential crowd of 200 people, now that is remarkable.

I went to see the Primary Program for the Walnut Creek Ward (a local congregation) this morning. I'm not exaggerating, it was one of the most spiritually uplifting experiences I've had since General Conference in October. 

Here are a few reasons why...

First, the primary sang the first verse of "A Child's Prayer ". The parents then stood up in the congregation and sang the second verse. Then it was sung again with primary children and parents combined singing their respective verses.  It was a beautiful rendition of one of my favorite primary songs.

Second, Walnut Creek's Primary  has these awesome bells that the kids ring for different pitches. About half a dozen kids stood in front and played a verse of "We Thank Thee O God for a Prophet". But wait, there's more...then Ocean Peterson, a cute girl under 10 years old, faced the congregation to conduct as we joined the children in singing a verse of the song, while the bells were our background music. 

Third, another young girl played a song on the smallest violin I have ever seen. Wow!

Fourth, one of the girls gave a talk about being a missionary all of your life. She said you can be a missionary even when you are 100. She was awesome, she convinced me that being a missionary is easy.

Jamie Peterson and Andrea Holland did an amazing job preparing and conducting the program. It was clear that the children were very prepared.

My favorite thing about the program was a song I've never heard before. It is called  "Gethsemane".
I'll let you read the words, let them sink in. These children sang with song with all the energy of their hearts. My favorite lines are-

The hardest thing That ever was done
The greatest pain that ever was known
The biggest battle that ever was won
This was done by Jesus.
The fight was won by Jesus

These children were singing with such conviction the simplest description I've ever heard of the Atonement of Jesus Christ. I am not sure they grasped the importance of the words, but I am sure they felt the spirit of it, the eternal truth of it that much of the world can't even fathom.

I thank God for Primary Programs.

"Gethsemane" (by Jenny Phillips)

Jesus climbed the hill
To the garden still
His steps were heavy and slow
Love and a prayer
Took Him there
To the place only He could go
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So He went willingly
To Gethsemane
He felt all that was sad, wicked or bad
All the pain we would ever know
While His friends were asleep
He fought to keep
His promise made long ago
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So He went willingly
To Gethsemane
The hardest thing That ever was done
The greatest pain that ever was known
The biggest battle that ever was won
This was done by Jesus.
The fight was won by Jesus.
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So he gave His gift to me
In Gethsemane
Gethsemane
Jesus loves me
So he gives His gift to me
From Gethsemane

Roasted Eggplant Spread and Oven Roasted Tomatoes

I tried two new recipes today. 

Roasted Eggplant Spread and Oven Roasted Tomatoes

My friend posted the recipe on Facebook. I bought an eggplant at Sprouts this week, not sure what I was going to do with it. 

My house smells wonderful, and they end product is delicious. Funny thing is, red onions and red peppers, and tomatoes do not hold any appeal to me.  But roasted and pureed? Yes please! 

It was easy! 

Here are the veggies chopped up and seasoning mixed in.

Roasted 45 minutes...

 

Then puree it in the blender and tada! 

 

The recipe called for tomatoe puree or pureed oven-roasted tomatoes. Oven Roasted Tomatoes? Be warned, they took 2 1/2 hours, but  look at these beauties? 

This (not tempting to me at all)

To this....

Now that is more edible! 

Combine the two...

I think I'll try it on spaghetti squash this week! Thanks for sharing Rebecca! 

Wrong Roads

http://www.youtube.com/v/yNQC-_srxH8?version=3&autohide=1&autohide=1&feature=share&autoplay=1&attribution_tag=7HNVskq2p5vwUZpmMbTIpA&showinfo=1


Why do I like this video? Well first of all Elder Jeffrey R Holland is a special witness of Christ, and when I hear his words I know he has a personal relationship with the Savior. Second, it is a great analogy. Third, it teaches me more about God's love for us.

Sometimes when things "go wrong", or we think they are going wrong, we blame the Adversary/Satan/the devil. We tend to give him a lot more credit then I think he deserves. For example, one could say- "Oh it was the adversary that tempted them to go down the wrong path."   No, Elder Holland clearly says the prayer was indeed answered, just not in the way he and his son expected.


Another example I often hear is when someone is sick they say Satan is trying to get them down because he doesn't have a body of his own. Well I just don't believe it works that way. There are plenty other reason that come from God first for why I might be sick. Perhaps the Lord wants me to slow down. Perhaps I need to learn to take better care of myself, or perhaps it is just part of mortality and having an imperfect body.

Sometimes we go down "dead ends" so we can quickly know that the other path is indeed the correct path...because sometimes we will be on the correct path for a long time before reaching our destination. He wants to get us on the right road as quickly as possible.

Elder Holland said, 

"I have absolute certain knowledge, perfect knowledge, that God loves us. He is good, he is our Father, and He expects us to pray and to trust, and be believing, and not give up,panic, or "jump ship" when something doesn't seem to be going right. We stay in, we keep working, we keep believing, keep trusting, following that same path and we will live to fall in His arms and feel His embrace and hear Him say, 'I told you that it'd be okay, I told you it would be alright.' "

Thank you Mormon Messages, this was a perfect message to start my day with!