sunday singing

I love Sundays and I love our ward. It's going to be so hard to pick a song for this week, I felt like sacrament meeting was just full of them, and so many that touched me. The spirit was so strong there today... I had a hard time keeping it together. I am such a crier. Hymns have such great power and teach us so much. They are a great way to teach us about the atonement. I think today I am going to pick "There is a Green Hill Far Away". We didn't sing it, but our home teacher's wife spoke about the atonement and she quoted this song and spoke of it's power. She gave such an amazing talk today, it really touched me.

Something we are taught, but don't always think about is that the atonement isn't just for our repentant needs, it isn't just for the sinner... it is also for those sinned against. It is there for us in times of despair and in time of trial.

All of us suffer some injuries from experiences that seem to have no rhyme or reason. We cannot understand or explain them. We may never know why some things happen in this life. The reason for some of our suffering is known only to the Lord. But because it happens, it must be endured. President Howard W. Hunter said that “God knows what we do not know and sees what we do not see.”

President Brigham Young offered this profound insight that at least some of our suffering has a purpose when he said: “Every calamity that can come upon mortal beings will be suffered to come upon the few, to prepare them to enjoy the presence of the Lord. … Every trial and experience you have passed through is necessary for your salvation.”

President James E. Faust

We can turn to the Lord for comfort and through His atonement we can endure what we have been given. I have felt this and am so eternally thankful for His love throughout my life.

There is a green hill far away,
Without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified,
Who died to save us all.

We may not know,
We cannot tell,
What pains He had to bear,
But we believe it was for us
He hung and suffered there.

There was no other good enough
To pay the price of sin.
He only could unlock the gate
Of heav'n and let us in.
Oh dearly, dearly He has loved!
And we must love Him too,
And trust in His redeeming blood,
And try His works to do.

text: Cecil Frances Alexander
music: John H. Gower