Saturday's Stake Women's Conference
Wow! What an incredible experience! Saturday our Stake sponsored a women’s conference in which the keynote speaker was artist Liz Lemon Swindle. She paints beautiful portraits. Her most recent work is a series of paintings of Jesus Christ entitled “The Son of Man”. She has been teaming with the music talents of composer Kenneth Cope and the literary talents of Susan Easton Black that has been ten years in the making. She shared how her testimony has grown as she has studied and learned more about the Savior. She showed us video clips of some of the work in progress and told us the stories of the creative process as well as the ins
piration involved. She also brought several of her original paintings to display. They were so very amazing! I never realized how much difference there was between an original and a print. The colors were extremely vibrant. As I looked at each painting, I felt almost as if it were truly the Savior looking right at me from within the frame. Liz often paints the Savior in situations where He is either smiling or laughing, playing with children, walking with the Apostles, interacting with the disciples. In the paintings Christ radiates love. I was overcome with the feelings of love He has for me and all of His children.
There were a couple of the paintings that affected me more than the others. One was called Friends. In this painting, the Savior is listening to a young child singing. As I gazed at this painting, I felt that the Savior was enjoying the special time shared with this child just as I enjoyed watching and playing with Kalel. Many times I realize that I am "wasting" time just watching the fun things that Kalel does and the little things that make him laugh. Even though I usually have many "important" things that I "should" be doing, I savor the time I spend with my little one. In the painting, the love Christ feels for this child is very evident. Even though there are many important things He has to do, He stops to enjoy the wonderful laughter and singing of a small child. Isn't it wonderful?
The other picture that affected me is called simply called Mother. Jen asked Liz's friend to tell
us about this painting, and he said that Liz has a son who is quite tall. Often he would come up behind her and give her a big hug. One day as she was being embraced by her son, she had the feeling that the Savior might have embraced his mother in such a fashion. This painting represents the time just prior to the Savior's death. In the painting Christ is already aware of the terrible tragedy that is about to befall Him, but His mother does not know yet. At this time, you can see the sadness in His face as He embraces Mary for He is concerned for her. Liz says about this painting, "I wanted this painting to show the love the Savior had for His mother and the feeling that every mother can find comfort and safety in His arms." Jodi and I were especially touched by this painting since we have both lost sons in this life.
Tasha especially loved the painting entitled, The Worth of Souls. It is a lovely painting that was sponsored by Mothers Without Borders. Here is what Liz says about it, "One of the first children I met was Kennedy, the little boy you see in the painting. At three years old he has lost both of his parents to AIDS and was found living alone with his six year old brother and ten year old
sister. When I thought of those three children struggling to survive and the millions of others across Africa in similar circumstances, I felt an overwhelming hopelessness and said to myself, “No amount of money can fix this.” Later that day while we were filming, Kennedy climbed into the arms of the man portraying the Savior. As I stood watching them, Kennedy turned towards me and our eyes met. At that moment I knew it wasn’t hopeless. I realized that the Savior could fix not only the problems of Africa, but of the whole world…and we can be His hands to do it.For the first time in my life I felt what Isaiah meant when he said, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.” To Kennedy and all who struggle to understand why, I promise that God has not forgotten you. "
To see all of the paintings as well as read the stories behind them and order prints go to Liz Lemon Swindle. To read more about this special program, go to Jodi's post entitled "Hallelujah Anyway" here.
Our ward Young Women and Relief Society sisters had the opportunity to sing Jenny Phillips song, "Steadfast in You". They performed the piece beautifully and it added to spirit of the meeting.
The second speaker was Sister Sheena Joyce. She is originally from Scotland so she has the
most wonderful accent! Her message was beautiful. All about how we are all of great worth and that no matter who we are or what we have done in this life, we still matter a great deal to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She also taught us that when difficult or rough times come we should say, Hallelujah Anyway!!! No matter how difficult life is our what trials we have to go through, we are still children of heavenly parents and that everything will work out to our benefit in the end.
Hallelujah Anyway!!!
piration involved. She also brought several of her original paintings to display. They were so very amazing! I never realized how much difference there was between an original and a print. The colors were extremely vibrant. As I looked at each painting, I felt almost as if it were truly the Savior looking right at me from within the frame. Liz often paints the Savior in situations where He is either smiling or laughing, playing with children, walking with the Apostles, interacting with the disciples. In the paintings Christ radiates love. I was overcome with the feelings of love He has for me and all of His children.
There were a couple of the paintings that affected me more than the others. One was called Friends. In this painting, the Savior is listening to a young child singing. As I gazed at this painting, I felt that the Savior was enjoying the special time shared with this child just as I enjoyed watching and playing with Kalel. Many times I realize that I am "wasting" time just watching the fun things that Kalel does and the little things that make him laugh. Even though I usually have many "important" things that I "should" be doing, I savor the time I spend with my little one. In the painting, the love Christ feels for this child is very evident. Even though there are many important things He has to do, He stops to enjoy the wonderful laughter and singing of a small child. Isn't it wonderful?The other picture that affected me is called simply called Mother. Jen asked Liz's friend to tell
us about this painting, and he said that Liz has a son who is quite tall. Often he would come up behind her and give her a big hug. One day as she was being embraced by her son, she had the feeling that the Savior might have embraced his mother in such a fashion. This painting represents the time just prior to the Savior's death. In the painting Christ is already aware of the terrible tragedy that is about to befall Him, but His mother does not know yet. At this time, you can see the sadness in His face as He embraces Mary for He is concerned for her. Liz says about this painting, "I wanted this painting to show the love the Savior had for His mother and the feeling that every mother can find comfort and safety in His arms." Jodi and I were especially touched by this painting since we have both lost sons in this life.Tasha especially loved the painting entitled, The Worth of Souls. It is a lovely painting that was sponsored by Mothers Without Borders. Here is what Liz says about it, "One of the first children I met was Kennedy, the little boy you see in the painting. At three years old he has lost both of his parents to AIDS and was found living alone with his six year old brother and ten year old
sister. When I thought of those three children struggling to survive and the millions of others across Africa in similar circumstances, I felt an overwhelming hopelessness and said to myself, “No amount of money can fix this.” Later that day while we were filming, Kennedy climbed into the arms of the man portraying the Savior. As I stood watching them, Kennedy turned towards me and our eyes met. At that moment I knew it wasn’t hopeless. I realized that the Savior could fix not only the problems of Africa, but of the whole world…and we can be His hands to do it.For the first time in my life I felt what Isaiah meant when he said, “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces.” To Kennedy and all who struggle to understand why, I promise that God has not forgotten you. "To see all of the paintings as well as read the stories behind them and order prints go to Liz Lemon Swindle. To read more about this special program, go to Jodi's post entitled "Hallelujah Anyway" here.
Our ward Young Women and Relief Society sisters had the opportunity to sing Jenny Phillips song, "Steadfast in You". They performed the piece beautifully and it added to spirit of the meeting.
The second speaker was Sister Sheena Joyce. She is originally from Scotland so she has the
most wonderful accent! Her message was beautiful. All about how we are all of great worth and that no matter who we are or what we have done in this life, we still matter a great deal to our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. She also taught us that when difficult or rough times come we should say, Hallelujah Anyway!!! No matter how difficult life is our what trials we have to go through, we are still children of heavenly parents and that everything will work out to our benefit in the end.Hallelujah Anyway!!!
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