A Princess with a purpose . . .

"You are very precious, each of you, regardless of your circumstances. You occupy a high and sacred place in the eternal plan of God, our Father in Heaven. You are His daughters, precious to Him, loved by Him, and very important to Him. His grand design cannot succeed without you.
~Gordon B Hinckley

Yesterday I helped Todd to collect in some of his catalogues. It was a pleasant day, sunny and warm and I quite enjoy helping him out with this. You meet some very nice people in the process and it's great exercise.

You also meet all sorts of people. People like this oriental woman yesterday who didn't answer her door . . . fair enough . . . but then when I had gotten two houses down came out into the garden and started hurling abuse at me in Chinese! I could tell that what she was saying was not very nice, because of the expression on her face and her actions towards me. I was glad that I could not speak Chinese.



Another elderly woman was very chatty and friendly. I expect that she was somewhat lonely, and so I stood and chatted with her for a time at her garden gate . . . we talked about dogs and husbands and loss. She was a widow who had lost both her husband and her dog in the same year . . . I could identify with the loss of her dog, but thankfully I still have my husband. She had a lovely Chocolate Lab pup and I was quite interested in her, as we are thinking of perhaps getting one for ourselves.

One person really made me feel sad though. I knocked on this one door and a very large young woman opened it, but the way she opened it and hid behind it led me to believe that here was a girl that was afraid of other people, and perhaps ashamed of who she was. She was severely obese, and that is sad enough . . . but it was very clear to me that she was hiding away in her house. That image stayed with me the remainder of the day . . .




I thought to myself . . . if only she knew who she was. Knowing the area that she lives in, I can well believe that if she does go out her door, the people that live nearby are probably quite cruel and judgemental towards her . . . they don't know who they are either.

These words that I started my post off with this morning are the words of a latter day Prophet. Words carried by him to us, the beautiful daughters of our Heavenly Father . . . words meant to uplift and to help to carry us through this life here on earth. It doesn't really matter if you believe that Mr Hinckley was a prophet or not, (he has since passed away) these words resound with truth and with love.



It made me sad to think that this precious daughter of Heavenly Father was not living the life that she was meant to live . . . because of the way she looked, and the way she is treated by others . . . and because she clearly doesn't know who she is. It also made me sad to think that that oriental woman clearly doesn't know who she is either, nor who I am . . . for if she did, she would not behaved in the manner that she did. It was not befitting the daughter of God for her to behave in such a way . . .

How about you? Do you know who you are?? Can you feel His divinity coursing through your veins . . . can you feel that part of you that is Him and do you draw on it's strength?? We, each of us, have a part of the Divine within us. That part that is called spirit comes from our Heavenly Father . . . and that is who we are. We are not these shells that we call a body . . . these shells that fail us and let us down with their many imperfections and weaknesses . . .



We are beloved spirit daughters of God, and
our lives have meaning, purpose, and direction.
As a worldwide sisterhood, we are united in our devotion to Jesus Christ,
our Savior and Exemplar.
We are women of faith, virtue, vision, and charity who:
Increase our testimonies of Jesus Christ through prayer and scripture study.
Seek spiritual strength by following the promptings of the Holy Ghost.
Dedicate ourselves to strengthening marriages, families, and homes.
Find nobility in motherhood and joy in womanhood.
Delight in service and good works.
Love life and learning.
Stand for truth and righteousness.
Sustain the priesthood as the authority of God on earth.
Rejoice in the blessings of the temple, understand our divine destiny,
and strive for exaltation.
~The Relief Society Declaration of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Oh how very grateful I am for the knowledge of who I am, and why I am here. This knowledge has given my life deeper meaning and worth. It has helped me to be a better me, and spurs me on to greater and better things each day. It helps me to stand a little taller! I am a Princess with a purpose. I wish I could teach this to all of Heavenly Father's most precious daughters . . .

Just my thoughts this morning . . . I hope you don't mind!

I baked these muffins the other morning and they were quite good. They stuck to the pan though, so if you decide to make them, make sure you use paper liners. I adapted the recipe from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book. It's quite a good book and everything in it usually turns out really well!!






*Coffee Cake Muffins*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

These delicious muffins have a tasty streusel filling and topping! Don't be tempted to bake these without muffin liners. They stick, as you can clearly see from my photo. Taste fabulous though!

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup packed dark soft brown sugar
1 TBS ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
12 TBS unsalted butter, chilled
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
icing sugar for dusting (optional)



Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/gas mark4. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Place the sugar, 1/2 cup of the flour and 1/4 cup of the brown sugar in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture to a small bowl. Add the remaining 1/4 cup of brown sugar and the cinnamon, whisking it in well. Set aside.

To the remainder in the food processor add the remaining 1 cup flour, the baking powder, the baking soda, and the salt. Pulse to combine. Drop the cold butter evenly over top and pulse until the mixture forms small pebbly pieces. Add the eggs and the sour cream and pulse until the batter is well combined and thick.

Spoon generous tablespoons of the batter into the prepared cups. Top each with about 1 1/2 TBS of the streusel mixture. Finish off with the remaining batter to cover and then a final sprinkle of the remaining streusel. Bake until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, turning the muffin pan around halfway through the baking time.

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to finish cooling. If desired, dust lightly with icing sugar before serving.




It's Cheeseburger Double Cheese Macaroni over on The English Kitchen this morning!