Where Can I Turn For Peace?

Written by Ashley & Jessica

What an amazing conference this has been!  We are so blessed to have a prophet of God on the earth to speak to us and give us direction, as well as all of the other men and women called of God to teach and guide us. 

The other week I was able to attend the temple.  As I sat pondering and enjoying the spirit of peace that surrounded me I suddenly realized that there was no noise.  There were no cars honking, no people yelling, no machinery or construction noise.  You'd never guess I was sitting in the middle of Manhattan.  It was amazing to ponder what a blessing this oasis of peace was in the middles of all the chaos. 



In today's world it can seem hard at times to find a place of peace.  We live in a world where, in most cases, we are surrounded by a whirlwind of things to do and places to be.  We have been counseled to attend the temple as often as we can.  However, depending on where you live and what stage of life you are in, this can be difficult to do.  For those not living near a temple it probably doesn't happen as often as we'd like.  Some may not have the time or means.  It is for this reason that it becomes all the more important, nay, critical that we make our homes a Heaven on Earth.  In this tumultuous world it is necessary to have a sanctuary, a place we can go to recharge and strengthen our spirits and minds.  In order to make our homes a holy place where the Spirit can dwell we need to treat them as holy places.  We need to make them our fortresses and keep evil without our walls.  If we fail to treat our homes as a special and holy place our spiritual fortifications will crumble.  I believe all of us are capable of making our homes a place of peace.  This doesn't mean we have to have spotless homes that are perfectly organized, or expensive furnishings or massive chandeliers.  It simply means that we open our doors and hearts to the teachings and standards the Lord has given us and close them against the temptations and fiery darts of the adversary.  Let us all actively strive to make our homes a heaven on earth and welcome in the peace of our Heavenly Father.

So What Saturday: God sends a helicopter

Pardon me if I butcher the retelling of this story I heard in church forever ago.

There's a man who lives in a mobile home. One day it begins to rain. And rain. And rain.  We're talking Noah flood like rain here.

So he's a little bit worried, but he has faith. He knows God will take care of him.

The water seeps past the cinderblock and comes into the mobile home. He heads outside to climb onto his truck and wait out the flood.

A boat floats by. The driver of the boat says they are evacuating, and does he need a lift, The man waves him past. He will be ok, because God will rescue him.


The water rises and soon he finds himself up on his roof, waiting for the flood to subside. A helicopter fly past and drops a rope ladder. Climb up, we'll save you.  The man thanks them, but declines. He's got the Lord on his side.

As you may have guessed, the man drowns. When he arrives in heaven and meets the Lord, the man is upset. Why didn't you save me, Lord? I had faith and I waited for you to help me.


The Lord replies in loving chastisement, "I sent you a boat. I sent you a helicopter. But you would not help yourself."




Okay, there was a point to this, I swear. Are you drowning in you writing? Are you on the roof waiting for the Lord, or your muse to rescue you?


I have a friend that is writing a doctrinal book. She is stuck so deep in the mire that I worry about her oxygen resources. I've asked her why doesn't she go get help. Go to a conference, take classes, join a writer's group. Her answer is no way. She is positive that the Lord means for her to write this book and he will make it happen for her.

I too am drowning in writing woes. Well today I am at LDS Storymakers conference. I am rescuing myself. And there have been so many life preservers thrown my way. And I hate to say I almost passed this up. Out of fear (of meeting new people), maybe pride (do I really need classes? ( um yes)), with a little bit a money woes mixed in.

But I know that this is my boat. This is my helicopter. When I get on my knees and pray to find my way through the muck, the Lord hears me. He doesn't pull me out with his own two hands, but he does send help.

It can be a person. It can be a story. It might just be the still small voice. Keep your eyes and your ears peeled- and be ready to grab the rope.

 Here's Nikki Wilson, MMW founder , at the book signing table at the conference. :)  

Follow me on Facebook- Author Betsy Schow  or on Twitter @BetsySchow

Time to Pay the Piper

A long time ago I heard some advice you may be familiar with. It basically says that whatever you really want, you need to send it out into the universe somehow, usually by writing it down, making it a concrete thing in both your mind and to the universe in general. We know that what we are really doing is sharing with our Heavenly Father what it is we really want.
What we also have to know is that those things don't come easily, or immediately. Sometimes they sneak in the back door and we don't realize that we have them until years later. Just recently, as we've slowly been going through boxes of stuff that have been boxed for years, my husband and I came across a list we'd made about 10 years ago, give or take. On this list were things that we needed or wanted. Things like a new washer and dryer. A home of our own. A new TV. Tangible things that we needed or wanted.
It surprised me to find that during those years, all of those "goals" had been achieved. None of them at the time I would have chosen, and none of them without sacrifice. But we had all those things. Even the new TV. :)
So I've learned the power of the positive, forward moving statement in writing in life. And so when I wrote THIS post, I knew that it would be a good thing for me to do, to yell out to the universe what my intentions were. And they were to get Fairy Godfather written so I could pitch it during the conference.

What I have to remember, however, is that these gifts from the heavens don't come free. There is a price for everyone of them. Especially when it's a personal goal, the Lord seems to say, "I can see that right now you really want this. It's important to you at this moment. But you need to be 100% sure it's what you really want, so I'm going to give you several trials. I'll help you know for sure that it's what you want before I give it to you."

So as soon as I said I wanted to have this book finished, all kinds of things happened. It's been challenging, trying to regain my equilibrium, but now that conference is around the corner, I have to share that I did not finish. But I have to be okay with that, and know that even though it was my timetable, it wasn't the Lord's timetable. It doesn't mean that I won't be finished eventually, but at a pace more conducive to reality.

So I withdrew from the pitch, but entered the Beginning Of Book contest (BOB) instead. I at least had a beginning I could share. :)

Little Fish in a HUGE pond

If you read Elizabeth's post on Summer in Paris and thought you would love to read it,

then you need to head over to my giveaway post and comment before the April 12th.

Are you getting very excited for the LDStorymaker conference on April 23rd-24th?  I am.  But I am also a little scared.  This will be my first writer's conference.  I am a total newbie.  I feel like a guppy swimming with the whales.  I would be lying if I said I am not intimidated.

While I am completely excited to meet all of the bloggers who have inspired me in my writing.  I am at a loss for how to prepare.

Are  you attending?  

Can you help a girl out with some pointers and advice?

LDS Storymakers Conference

Last weekend, I got to go to the Storymakers Conference. It was amazing. If any of you ever get the chance to attend, I would absolutely recommend it.
There were so many great classes, so many great people. It was just an awesome experience in every way. I thought I would post today about the Keynote Speaker from the conference.

Dean Lorey author of the Nightmare Academy.

He said there are four things that a good writer must do.

1 - Write
* Whenever you are at a loss, write... always write

2 - Protect your work
* Take feedback into consideration, but be true to your work
* Only institute feedback that will better the story
* With non-writers there are too types of feedback we should pay special attention to
A- I'm bored
B- I'm confused

3 - Focus
* one of the hardest things for writers to do

4 - Get people to read your work
* You must be able to accept, ponder and use criticism

Remember, YOU are the hero of your own story. Protect it and make it the best you possibly can.