The Bountiful Gal - Standing For Truth

  My sacred place = my front room It's not always clean or organized, but this is the room that brings my heart peace.  I look at this room and it is packed, yet it's packed with the things I love!  It's packed with art of Christ,  pictures of the foundation of the United States of America, a Christmas tree with all my kids ornaments (ornaments of the history of each year) and a piano.  So how is this tiny, yet packed room my sacred place?  Because it is the place that reminds me of all the good God has blessed me with and connects me to the Lord. 1.  Art of Christ - I grew up with pictures of Christ in my house.  I loved looking at them.  I loved that it made me stop and reflect upon all he has done for me.  Now as I have raised my family I made it a priority to have pictures of Christ in my home.  I have since our first tiny apartment Zac and I rented.  I love all pictures of Christ, but I seek every few years to find art tha...

God didn't send us down here to just survive, he sent us to earth to thrive! What does that mean?   I honestly think it will be different for each on of us, but for me it means I can find peace even on the hard days.   Five years ago my life changed drastically!  Not only did I buy a gymnastics gym and become a full time worker along with raising my young family, I also was in a car wreck and began to deal with chronic illnesses and pain.  The same year God gave me what he knew would bring me great joy, I was also dealt with challenges that changed a lot about be.  From those challenges I flipped into fight and flight response and I've been living each day just trying to survive.   There have been days during the last 5 years that I felt like I had been dropped into the Hunger Games and everyone was out to get me.  But there were also days I felt I was in the days of Christ seeing his daily miracles and feeling I was walking on water....

 The day before Thanksgiving is one of my kids favorite days of the year.  This is the day they write out their "Christmas List" for Santa because they know that mom and dad help Santa by getting the Black Friday deals.  They eagerly write out all their desires on that piece of paper.  And when I say all the desires, I mean it.  One of my kids has asked Santa for a live horse on their list for 3 years now.  It doesn't matter how many times we tell her that isn't even a possibility she still writes it out.  She believes Santa wants to hear everything she wants even if it isn't a realistic ask. Last night we rushed in the door from cutting down our Christmas tree in order to watch The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints First Presidency's Christmas Devotional .  Sister Craig was the first speaker and her talk spoke to my heart!!  She spoke of using our gifts that God has blessed us with.  I absolutely loved that she had her little ...