The Bountiful Gal - Standing For Truth

Something you may not know about me is that I'm a Hallmark Fanatic!! There are very few Hallmark movies and shows that I don't like.  I watch it all year long.  I know the actors by name and of course have my favorite.  I buy Hallmark shirts and sweatshirts.  I throw a Hallmark Party every first part of November to kick off the Christmas movies.  And I'm always on the search for filming in my area.  I got to watch them film last year and I was enthralled!  It was fascinating.  I sat there for hours watching like a crazed fan, which I am.  haha! Last night kicked off the Hallmark Christmas movies.  It started a week earlier then normal, but I didn't mind at all!  I put on my "Hallmark is my favorite season" shirt curled up under my covers and watched. I woke up this morning thinking, what is it about Hallmark that I like so much?  The storylines can be cheesy and the acting isn't always the best.  But yet I come back and wa...

Emily Belle Freeman is one of my favorite religious authors of all time.  Her first book I ever read was called 21 Days Closer to Christ and it changed my life forever!  I had just lost my baby at 18 weeks gestation and I was dealing with the guilt of feeling it was my fault.  I was struggling to understand why this was happening to us and accepting that nothing I did could have changed it much.  I knew I needed to find Christ and my mother in law knew I needed help too.  She went to Deseret Book and found this "new" book out.  I decided to take the journey and it was the best decision I ever made!  I had some amazing spiritual experiences on this journey that I will never forget.  I became more aquatinted with Christ in those 21 days then ever before.  Emily's writing opened my eyes to Christ in a way that was so familiar and yet so new at the same time.  Ever since, I have read all of her books and have followed her closely on social ...

 Don't you love it when a scripture that you've read thousands of times actually speaks to you in a whole new way?!  Oh it's my favorite!  It makes scripture study so exciting because I never know when it's going to happen.  I love mysteries, and the scriptures are the greatest mystery that we've been given.  The mystery unfolds at different times in our lives and when we need it the most. Today I read the story of Jesus' birth again.  That is the most read part of the scriptures for me.  I'm very familiar with it, and yet today, I saw new meaning.  I saw and heard what I needed to hear the most at this moment in my life. Today I saw I courageous woman who chose to do what the Lord asked of her even though it wasn't the conventional thing.   Today I saw Mary shine her light to the world because she didn't let fear get in the way of what the Lord asked of her.   Can you imagine the weight of what she was asked to do?  And I...

Have you ever watched a cross country race or any running race?  I never have till this year.  We aren't runners in our family and personally I've never had a desire to watch a race (sorry to all my runner friends).   Well, that all changed this year.  My son ran cross country and it has changed my vision.   The first race I went to was extremely moving to me.  You end up with groups - those who sprint off the start line and those who want to keep a solid pace the whole race.  As spectators we cheer at the beginning, then they disappear and we walk over to another spot to cheer them on, and then to another and another and back to the finish line.  As the race continued I could see the runners struggling.  They were tired and hurting, but yet they found it within themselves to keep going.  Then as they came around to the finish line, I saw something spectacular - the racers were full on sprinting to the finish line!  Where ...