The Bountiful Gal - Standing For Truth

For the last 3 Christmases, Zac has been bought me a nativity to put up in the house.  It's so exciting to me!  I can't wait to see which one he is going to pick out.  As soon as I get it, I put it up in my kitchen along with the other ones I have.  This year the tops of my cabinets were full of different nativities of Christ. When Christmas was over, it was time to take down the nativities along with all the other Christmas decorations.  As I was pulling each nativity down, my heart grew sadder and sadder.  I felt like I was pushing Christ out of my house.  I felt an emptiness when I looked around my kitchen and those nativities weren't there anymore.   Of course Zac just laughed at me.  I knew it was silly, but the hole in my heart was there.  I immediately found a solution.  I told Zac I needed a Jesus cabinet!  I needed a glass cabinet that I could place my nativities in and keep up all year long. During the covid shut...

 If you follow me on social media you saw that the other day I threw some giants on strap bar.  It's been 4 yrs since I last did those and before that 15 and before that 10 yrs.  It felt so good to do them!  All night I dreamt of gymnastics again.  https://www.facebook.com/crystalnelson4/videos/3466909609995414/ Why is this relevant?  Well that's because it was truly a miracle that I was even able to do them.  I deal with chronic illness and my health continues to be a roller coaster ride.  I normally wouldn't have even tried because trying to do it would put me out for days after.  But that night as I was talking with all those little gymnasts about overcoming fear, I felt very strongly I needed to do them.  And so I strapped into that bar and did it without thinking twice about it. As soon as I got off the bar, I knew I was not going to be walking the next day.  My armpits were already hurting from being stretched in a way I don't...

David Butler in "Don't Miss This" study devotional gave a thought from Alma 54:12 that I've never thought of before. He points out that Moroni understood the need of women and children in the fight against the lamanites.  He then references President Nelson's talk "Sisters' Participation in the Gathering of Israel" Oct 2018 .  I've been studying it again for multiple mornings.  President Nelson knew to fight the battles we were about to face he needed the women just as much as he needed the men. In Oct 2018 Pres Nelson told the women of the church that we were needed.  He told us, "My dear sister, we need you!   We 'need your  strength, your  conversion, your  conviction, your  ability to lead,   your wisdom, and your  voices.' We simply cannot gather Israel without you." He also says in the same talk, "My dear sisters, you have special spiritual gifts and propensities.  Tonight I urge you, with all the hope of my heart, t...

This morning while getting ready for church I was listening to my church music.  The song "Where Can I Turn for Peace?" came on and I was struck with awe during the 3rd verse - In my Gethsemane, Savior and Friend. In that moment I thought of all my Gethsemane moments in my life.  I thought of all those moments of pain and drowning.  All those moments when I thought I just couldn't take one more step.  As I saw those darkest moments again, I saw that He was with me.  He kept me from drowning.  He kept me moving forward.  He grasped my hand even when I wasn't holding onto Him.  He was always saving me! My latest Gethsemane has by far been my hardest, darkest time of my life.  Chronic pain and mental health mixed together makes it very hard to see the light.  The pain after my car accident became so bad that I began numbing the pain by learning not to feel anything.  (This isn't healthy and I suggest not ever doing it.)  I was alr...

Yesterday I had the opportunity to teach all my nieces and nephews a little Sunday School lesson.  The age range of kids is from 2 yrs old - 15 yrs old.  There were 16 total kids.  As I studied the Come Follow Me lesson for the last week I felt really impressed to teach on why do we study the scriptures.  The thought that keep passing through my mind was, "Do your kids understand the why of the scriptures?"  As I kept pondering on that questions I wondered if I understood the why. I love readying my scriptures!  I've done it since seminary.  I had early morning seminary and would have to wake up by 5 am to get ready.  My mom would already be on the couch with her scriptures, blanket and a cup of Postum.  I loved waking up to her reading!  It was so inspiring to me to see her there.  I knew I wanted to be just like her.   I go through spurts when I read.  Some weeks I'm consistent and read every morning along with jour...