All God's Children

by Jewel Leann Williams

(note: this comes from a post I made on Facebook some months ago, and for some reason I came across it tonight and felt prompted to share it here)

So many different ways on Facebook (and everywhere else) that people are posting things or commenting in ways that are breaking my heart. So many horrible things said about "those people"---all different sorts of "thoses" and so many sweeping generalizations, falsehoods, fearmongering, dehumanizing.... 

People. We are all, on this Earth, brothers and sisters. No race, religion, gender, class, or political group can be judged by the bad actions of a relative few. Even of they could, it's not the point. We were commanded by the Lord to "love thy neighbor as thyself" and when he said that, there was no fine print with exceptions to that commandment. 

You can't denigrate a whole race, or religion, or any group of people either by holding up their worst as an example of them all, by taking things out of context, by spreading rumors, by going on websites full of hate to find "facts" and then say you love your neighbor. You can't spread discord and contention and think you are right with God, OK with the Savior. 

Those people you insult, are children of God. Literally. Imagine how you feel when someone has insulted your child. If you, being imperfect, love your child so much that your heart aches for them, imagine how much more pain YOUR GOD feels when you behave as if one, or some, or many, of HIS children, are trash or devils or whatever terrible label you want to use. 

The great deceiver, Satan, would have us live in fear of each other, in misunderstanding, in hate. He laughs at us when we believe him, that we have to build MORE walls around our countries, our communities, our hearts. He is a liar.

Our Savior said things like love, pray for, do good to, those we call enemy. He said things like if ye are not one ye are not mine. Like turn the other cheek.  

What I say won't convince anyone to "Stop it," but I had to say it anyway.

The Gift of "No"

by Jewel Leann Williams

I’ve been up for a major promotion at work.  I’m talking several dollars an hour more, way more responsibility, with the ability (and expectation) to direct the efforts of several people. When I applied, I saw it mostly as an opportunity to make changes and bring the people around me into alignment with the vision of my department (and with my own work ethic).  There were downsides, for sure. I’d already had a career where I was responsible for a shift of people, and I knew it was significantly more stressful than just being accountable for my own work. The schedule was going to be worse for my family, but the pay would also lessen the strain on us. I knew that I was very well-qualified (10 years supervising a 9-1-1/dispatch center pretty much covers all the bases for supervision qualifications), but there were several people up for the job, all well-qualified.

Short story is, I didn’t get the promotion.  But, in subsequent conversations, I received an opportunity to do more of the things I enjoyed about supervising. When I worked in the police department, I helped with training, both new employee and continuing education. It was one of my passions there, and something I mentioned at length in my interview at my new company. I was given an opportunity to use those ideas and talents even as I was denied the big giant promotion. The more I think about it, the happier I am. It’s not the huge raise, but it’s also not the major jump on the stress-scale.

How many times do we receive this same blessing in life? We want, and feel we deserve, this big thing—whatever the big thing is. It’s different for everyone.  It could be a job, a marriage, an opportunity of some sort, a friendship, whatever the “thing” is. And then, we’re blessed with the “no” answer, only to find that there is something else. 

There’s that picture of the Savior holding a giant teddy bear behind his back, in front of a little girl who has a smaller bear. She doesn’t want to give her bear up, because she doesn’t know that the bear Jesus is holding is so much bigger.  I’d like to challenge that a little.  Sometimes, the bear is smaller. 

I'd love to credit this, but there are so, so many copies of it out there that I couldn't find an original attributed to anyone. If anyone knows where I can find the owner to attribute, let me know!!

Sometimes it’s not even a bear. Sometimes it’s a box of other, smaller things, things that have no relation to the bear.

Sometimes, it can be more like an IOU. We have to miss our little bear that we love, and have faith that the sacrifice of this thing we loved and treasured, or wanted and worked for, is going to be worth it.

The question becomes, do you believe in Jesus Christ. Do you believe what he says?

When he tells you that He loves you, and wants only the best for you, do you believe Him?

Do you believe that God is all-knowing? Do you believe that HE loves you?

If you do, then even while you mourn the loss of the “thing” you wanted, and you deserved, but that wasn’t for you, then you can look forward with faith that it will be made up for.

Sometimes, when you’re told “no,” you are instead offered something better right away.

Sometimes you get something different—I get to use my talents in a way that I’d not really thought I ever would be able to use them again.

Sometimes you are left with a hole, a wanting—there are mothers aching to hold children, men and women without wives or husbands, people without homes—there are as many yearnings as there are people in this world.

This time, I got something “less” that ultimately feels like “better”—but I have things I yearn for and will probably never receive, just like anyone. I have holes where I feel losses so deep sometimes it’s all I can do to not curl up on the floor and sob for days.

But, at the end of the day, I know that all things will—WILL—be made right. Not the “right” that I think is right with my myopic mortal vision, but truly right.

I know this, because I know that God loves me. I know that Jesus loves me. And I know that they’ve promised me that I will have everything they have. That all things will be for my good, if I will trust Them and follow Him.

And sometimes, the reminder of that, THAT is the gift that “No” brings to me.

L'Chaim!

By Lacey Gunter

I can think of no better way to celebrate Easter than a celebration of life itself: the wonderful life Jesus lived, the innocent life Jesus gave up for us to pay for our sins, the life He took back to his body three days later as He resurrected himself, the life we have been given here on earth to learn and grow and become like Him and the life we will get back as we are freed from the bonds of death and experience our own beautiful resurrection.

I am so grateful to be alive. Every day we wake up, we have the potential to become more like the person God knows we are capable of. We have the opportunity to face and conquer challenges or to fail, get back up and try again.  We have the opportunity to freely love and care for every soul that crosses our path. We have the opportunity to develop and share the talents and gifts granted to us from God. And, most of all, we have the opportunity to forgive and be forgiven.

Even the worst or darkest day of our life holds the promise of becoming. Because it is a step in our journey and its conclusion ushers in the dawn of a new day and the renewal of all the potential of what we can become.


Because Christ lives, so can we. To His life and ours. L'chaim!

Thoughts on Christmas

This Christmas season has been especially meaningful for me. It's always been an emotional season time of year since my Dad passed away at the beginning of December when I was thirteen years old. The anniversary of his death always starts my season off on just a little more somber of a note.

This year it's been different. Yes, missing my daddy still, but other things have overwhelmed that particular feeling. Long-awaited answers to prayer have come, blessing have been received, and I feel like I've been inspired with thoughts beyond my normal thinking capacities. Here are some things that have been rattling around in my head:

I've been thinking about Jesus and His example. He set an example not just in coming and living a perfect life, but by the simple fact that He came at all. I think it serves us well to remember that Jesus Christ was a being living in the presence of God the Father, who came here and to some extent was subject to the veil and to the realities of mortality. He was a baby--not a baby with a perfect knowledge, but a baby who chews on stuff and makes messy diapers and can't speak and keeps Mom and Dad up all night. Granted, He was probably a pretty awesome baby, and I imagine he slept through the night pretty early and was easy to potty-train.  This was probably not an accurate depiction:







 

Now for us. WE are also eternal beings who lived in the presence of God the Father. The Savior was with us, and as a part of the plan, we were told we would come here and forget everything. I imagine we were frightened. Jesus reassured us that He would show us the way. He did everything we have to do, and more.

 

It is comforting to me to know that the Savior had to learn line upon line the same way we do. He probably had more tenured teachers than we do, like Michael and Gabriel and probably Heavenly Father himself, but still, He learned at an upwards curve and didn't know everything at once, just like us.

 

Another thought I've had is more tender. I keep imagining the Savior ministering to each and every one of us. I keep thinking that even the Christian world seems to think of the human race as something that just happens. Like we begin when our physical form begins--whenever you define that--so Jesus just loves these random blips of existence, because--why? He's just so awesome that He loves all of His Father's creations?  Yes, it's true that Jesus is so awesome that He loves all of His Father's creations. But it's more than that! HE IS OUR TRUE BROTHER! We were with Him before. We are His family. It's more intimate than just this all-powerful being throwing love at everything and seeing what it sticks to. He loves ME--because I am His sister. He knows me. He remembers who I was before, He sees how far I've come from that innocent, inexperienced being, He knows my strengths and weaknesses not just because He's  magically all-knowing, but because HE knows ME.

 

It's not mystical, it's simple: it is a family connection.

 

In the same way, I have a family connection with you. And you, and you, and the jerk in front of me on the freeway who won't go past 55 mph, and the telemarketer I will speak to on the phone tomorrow.  We are capable of loving each other as much as Jesus loves us--not because of anything mystical or mysterious, but because of that family connection. What is standing in our way is the natural man, blocking our capacity to love. We've forgotten our brothers and sisters.

 

"I Am a Child of God." The simplest of beliefs, with so much power, and so much potential. Imagine the power of knowing, really knowing, that every single person you interact with, is your family. So many  -isms would be done away with. There would be "no more -ites" among us, as it were. 

 

Peace on Earth--Goodwill to All Men

 

The message of Christmas, brought to us by a baby who was sent as a baby to show us EVERY step of the way back to our Father, the Father of all.

 

Merry Christmas to all of you!

Share The Gift

I love Christmas.

Christmas is all the beauty and joy and anticipation and love and goodness of life, wrapped into one gorgeous, month-long package.

Except, of course, when it's not.

Because we're imperfect beings, so we let it turn into chaos and stress and feeling grumpy in long lines and spending more money than we have and rushing to a million different activities and having the perfect Instagram shot of our perfectly decorated tree and lots of noise and lots of expectations and...bah humbug!

Wow.  Did you hunch your shoulder defensively and furrow your brow and sigh deeply?  Does this sound like someone you know?  Does it sound like you?

Sometimes it sounds like me.

President Thomas S. Monson states, "Finding the real joy of Christmas comes not in the hurrying and scurrying to get more done.  We find the real joy of Christmas when we make the Savior the real focus of the season."

Sometimes I need a reminder to slow down and just be.

Find that quiet place inside of you and let all the Grinchness melt away.  Picture a clear, breezy night. . .the stars are shining brightly. Breathe in deeply.  There is a hush in the air; let it seep into your bones.  Everything is still, still, still. . . .

Picture a stable.  Picture a new mother, exhausted but radiant and her humble, awed husband, hovering nearby.

Then, imagine a sweet, new baby, perfect in every detail.

Can you keep from smiling?  Can you help but feel the Spirit whisper peace and hope and glad tidings of great joy to your soul?

This is Christmas.

And it is a gift, the loveliest gift ever given.

We decorate our homes to remind us of all the beauty our Heavenly Father gave us. We put up lights to remind us of our Savior who is the light of the world.  We can't help but sing songs of praise as did the heavenly hosts who proclaimed the birth long ago to shepherds on the hill.  We give gifts to help us remember the wise men who honored Jesus, and even more importantly, to help us remember His great gift of sacrifice and love.

We speak sweeter and smile more.  We reach out to those who are lonely and have less.  We serve.  We think of our loved ones.  We do all these things, because our great Exemplar did them first.

I love Christmas, because I love Christ.

He is my friend and my Redeemer.  He is my guide through this crazy world.  He is the Prince of Peace.

He is all the beauty and joy and anticipation and love and goodness of life, wrapped into one sweet bundle of swaddling clothes on a night over 2,000 years ago.  He lives now and His gift is eternal.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has put together a lovely video and website to help us discover, embrace, and share the true gift of Christmas.  You can go to mormon.org/christmas to see the video and learn more.

#ShareTheGift

The Cross

by Mare Ball at ADVENTURES IN THE BALLPARK

Today is Good Friday.

As a kid, I thought this was a horrible name for the day Christ suffered and died.  As an adult, I came to the deeper understanding that it's a good day for me, as Christ's sacrifice set me free.  Free from my flawed, selfish heart that, left on its own, takes me on a path of arrogance and self-service.  A heart that would deceive me daily, seducing me to believe I am my own god.

So, today is a good day for the human race.  We can all be free, if we so choose.

The cross can be a sign of unspeakable torture.  It can also be a symbol of victory, because that crude structure of planked wood did not keep the Lord down.  It was not the final word.  The story ends with an empty tomb, wrappings left behind, Christ crushing sin and the grave.

For me, the Easter story is wrapped up in a warped little wooden cross that was carved by a friend of my daughter's.

It's designed to fit in the fingers of my hand.

It's a simple prayer tool that is lightweight and smooth.  I went to sleep holding it last night, praying about all kinds of things.  It reminds of Christ's sacrifice, His victory, His sovereignty, my freedom, my love for Him, His love for me, and every other blessing/worry in my life.

Sometimes I grip it harder than others.

It still fits. 

Scripture tells us that God holds us in the palm of His (mighty) hand.  I like thinking I'm holding my faith in all its confusion and wonder and gratitude in mine.

I love this little cross.  By itself, it looks like it's dancing, head to the side, arms flung wide.  This reminds me that someday we will dancing on streets of gold. 

My prayer for everyone this weekend is that Christ will reveal Himself to you in a new way, that your faith will be renewed, or ignited for the first time.  Easter is a day of rejoicing, because it reminds us the suffering is not the end of the story.

Do you have any tools that help you pray/grow closer to God?

Because of Him (#BecauseofHim)- It’s Not Just a Video.

Click on the photo to see an amazing Easter video.

As you may know, one of my church callings is with the Public Affairs for our stake (a geographic area that includes several towns and several congregations of our church) as a Media Relations Director. As part of that, I have been working on utilizing social media to share the gospel and connect church members with those of other faiths in our community, and I am so excited to see how The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (aka, Mormon Church) is using social media (and the internet in general) to share the gospel.

Recently I received an e-mail about an initiative the church would be starting the week before Easter, called “Because of Him.” Yesterday I had a chance to view the video that was the starting point for the initiative, and I can’t even begin to tell you how awesome this video and this initiative is. Please take a moment to watch it (and read more about the initiative) here: "Church Launches Easter Initiative Focused on Jesus Christ”.

The goal is to spread the message that because Jesus Christ lived a perfect life, died, and was resurrected, our lives have hope and meaning. This initiative invites us- and Christians everywhere- to use the hash tag #BecauseofHim to share our testimonies of what is possible and beautiful in our lives because of our Savior’s atonement this week before Easter.

There is just something about the idea of social media being flooded with testimonies of Christ all week that makes my heart feel too big for my body. So I felt inclined to share this movement with you, awesome MMWs, because as writers, we have been blessed with the unique ability to express our thoughts and feelings in words in ways that others may not. And to me, that means that I have the special responsibility to share my most precious possession- my testimony- with others. Social media is an amazing tool we have that allows us to do that.

So let me begin here.

Because of Him...

...my life has meaning, direction, and focus.

...my life has daily joy and bright hope for the future.

...I know that this life is not the end and that those I love who have passed on will be with me again someday.

...I feel love and peace when I need it most.

...I have confidence in who I am as a daughter of God and I know that even though I make mistakes I can still go Home again.

These are just a few things I wanted to share that are because of Him. I encourage you to share yours, in the comments here and on your own social media page with the hash tag #BecauseofHim.

What is possible in your life because of Him?

Saturday So What: "Opportunity looks a lot like HARD WORK."

- a post by Betsy Schow

Usually, I'm not a big fan of Ashton Kutcher. To be honest, he always seemed like a moron. Recently I've had to revise my opinion. If you haven't seen his acceptance speech at the Teen Choice Awards, I highly recommend that you do.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNXwKGZHmDc


He said one line in particular that stuck out to me: "Opportunity looks a lot like hard work." In the writing business, everyone knows there is definitely a bit of luck involved. Having the right book, at the right time, seen by the right person -- boom -- hello J.K Rowling.

There is so much more to the story. It was not an overnight success. It was not a magic spell that fixed her world. She worked her tail off to be where she is.

How many rejections did she get? No clue how many agents she queried and got put off by. As far as publishing houses go, 12 turned the manuscript down. It was picked up by a little publisher in England. The first print run was laughable. But it got bigger and bigger. Faster than you can say "alohamora" all doors were open to her.

Very few will ever attain the level of "success" that Ms. Rowling has. No matter how much we pour into our craft. However, I will never know if I don't put in the time and effort. Moving a little farther everyday. Not turning back when the road looks too long and the goal too far. Each blog post, each short story, each book gets me closer to where I want to be.

There is a famous LDS picture and saying that brought me great comfort as a teen.

Now as a wife, mother, LDS woman, and writer, these words are my daily mantra. And right next to them on my desk is a new little post-it note, "Opportunity looks a lot like hard work" - so get going.

Starting next week I will be sharing a bit of the hard work. Please tune in next Saturday to hear the wise words of my new blogday partner, Lacey.

He is Risen!

Click here for President Monson's address.

He died so that we might live.

Happy Easter!




One for the ROAD:

My book, Darkspell a YA paranormal Romance has been picked
up by TreasureLine Publishers!

SO exciting! Here's me signing my contract:

(pardon the background sound, that's my hubby watching tv.)

S. B. Niccum spotted at LDSFiction!

In Honor of He who gave His life for Us . . .

On Sunday, I helped conduct Sharing Time for the Sunbeams. I had gone through many of my Ensigns and removed appropriate pictures of Jesus Christ. As I prayerfully prepared the lesson, I felt the sweet and tender strength of God's love for His Son. My heart was so full that I cried. I brought my chosen pictures to my team teacher and she played the primary songs I chose to go with each picture. We both felt the Spirit so strongly it brought tears to our eyes.

I want you to know how much I love my Father in Heaven and His son, Jesus Christ. I am so ever grateful that God loved us very much He was willing to show us mercy by allowing His only Begotten Son to come down to Earth to die for us. I have a testimony of the Atonement and am forever indebted to Him for His great love He has for me.

I hope you can feel the Spirit as you watch this special clip. Imagine being one of the people in any one given scene and feel the Spirit touch your heart. It is my prayer that the love of Christ abides you this wonderful time and forever after that.
Thank you for your visit to our humble blog. :)

Merry Christmas, everyone!