Rebecca H. Jamison's Blog, page 15

Diony George: Heaven's Just a Prayer Away

Today I'm sharing a story I enjoyed from Diony George's new book, Heaven is Just a Prayer Away:

Repeatedly through prayer I’ve received wisdom to handle situations in my life I wasn’t dealing well with on my own, especially in my role as a Mother.
My bedroom was quiet, and warm from the afternoon sun, but I didn’t find it comforting as I shut the door behind me. I was exhausted, filled with so much frustration I wanted to scream. I started to cry instead.My son had lied to me again.

I had tried to do everything I knew how to get him to stop. Nothing worked. Not losing friends, video games or television. Not writing sentences, or doing dishes for a week. And none of the many talks or family home evening lessons we’d had about honesty. My discouragement ran deep and I had run out of ideas. How could I get him to understand the immense value of this principle? How could I believe anything he told me?I’d prayed about it many times, at least I thought I had, in a general way, but the problem persisted and my discouragement and feelings of helplessness to change it increased.

I knelt down by my bed. The filtered rays of sunshine coming through the bedroom window warmed my back and I started another prayer. I felt tired, sad, and at a loss of where to go next. “Father in Heaven, I don’t know what to do. Please help me…”


I told him all of my concerns until my knees were sore. When I finished, I opened my eyes and grabbed a Kleenex to wipe the tears off my face. I got up and sat on the edge of my bed. Releasing the emotions helped lighten my heavy heart, but I still didn’t know what to do.

It wasn’t long before a thought entered my mind.

Really, Heavenly Father, I questioned. You want me to do that? How can that possibly work? What about the next time and the next time he tells me something?

I was to tell my son I was not going to look back anymore at the times he’d been dishonest, the times he’d covered the truth with excuses or denials. That was over and done with. From then on, I would believe he was telling me the truth. I was going to trust him.

I called my son to my bedroom so we could talk and I told him right then I was drawing a line, separating the past from the future. I watched his eyes grow bigger as he listened. With parted lips, he searched my face.  “Unless you do or say something to break my trust, I am now giving it to you completely.” Heavenly Father are you sure, I questioned again, feeling afraid.

His answer was a warm feeling of peace.

My son’s eyes watered and he hugged me. “Thanks Mom, I love you.” He turned and left the room. My tears fell again.

 Over the next several months I saw my son change. The first few times I asked if he was sure he was being honest or telling the truth, there was hesitation. Occasionally he changed his answers. As time passed the hesitations disappeared and his responses were strong and firm.
I would never have thought to handle that situation the way I did, on my own. That inspiration and guidance came directly from Heavenly Father as an answer to my prayers. 


Meet the Author:
Diony George is a wife, stay-at-home mom of seven, grandmother of three, motivational speaker, and the author of four books. Through her writing and public speaking she loves helping others draw closer to God. An avid reader whose favorite genre is romantic suspense, Diony also loves to travel, sew, and bake—especially pies and homemade bread. Born and raised in Alaska, she currently resides in Salt Lake City with her husband and family. Mrs. George can be reached through her personal website at http://www.dionygeorge.com

July Pictures

My summer has been a little crazier than I'd thought. Is it just me, or does this happen to everyone? I'd imagined all these peaceful moments, relaxing with a book or writing. But those moments only happen twice a week during swim lessons. I'm so glad I signed the kids up.

In between the crazy stuff, we have had a lot of fun. One of the fun things we did was go to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers museum in Salt Lake City. It's been a while since I've been there, and all I remembered was quilts and a stuffed two-headed lamb. So I told the boys they could see a two-headed lamb if they went with me. I had no idea how much they would love that museum. It's like a collection from Ripley's Believe It Or Not. We saw coffin dolls, a baby skull, and a 100-year-old cake, among other things. My oldest son said they had a better collection of swords than the Marine museum in Washington, D.C. Here's a picture of the two-headed lamb (I borrowed the picture from http://www.roadsideamerica.com/tip/6379):


We have also done a little hiking. A while ago I promised my second son that I'd take him to Donut Falls, so we finally went. Aren't I a great parent? Especially since I made that promise six years ago! It was a fun hike and just the right level of difficulty for our four year old. The picture at the top of the page is from our 4th of July hike. I'll let you in on a little secret we've discovered lately about hiking. Saturday around 5 pm is a great time to start a short hike. It's cooler, and there are more parking spaces.
Last month, we held a court of honor for our oldest son because he got his Eagle scout award. I'm so proud of Luke for all he's accomplished. I was a little nervous about the ceremony, but Luke said he wanted it to be super short. He didn't want to be bored. So all I really had to worry about was invitations and refreshments. Facebook makes invitations much easier. And rootbeer floats made the refreshments easier. 

Between the two of us, my husband and I have gone to four camps this summer. It's fun, but it can be stressful too. Why is it that all the really stressful stuff happens while my husband is out of cell phone range?
Oh, and since I haven't said much about reading or writing, I'll share a book I read last month that was great: My Loving Vigil Keeping, a historical fiction about coal mines by Carla Kelly. How about you? Do you have any good books or fun activities to recommend?

So I Married an Editor

It all began rather innocently. He took me to a bookstore on our first date. Then he lured me in with his shelf of classic novels. We joked about James Thurber and Jane Austen. He understood me in a way most men didn't. Of course, I married him. I'm very blessed. His editing skills have provided a good income for our family, and it's great to get his advice about the technicalities of writing. There are times, however, when his editorial impulses try my patience. Here's what you should expect if you're going to marry an editor.

My husband has a way of editing my words in his brain so they mean what he wants to hear instead of what I meant. Case in point: one day in the fall, I asked him to "please take care of the leaves in the front yard." I came home later to find he'd chopped down our dying maple tree, the tree I'd been trying to save. This was his explanation: "You asked me to take care of the leaves in the front yard. When I chopped down the tree, I got rid of half of them."

Another drawback is that sometimes editors just can't stop editing. Take the birth of our last child. While my husband should have been photographing our newborn baby, he got distracted by the hospital footprint certificate. There was a mistake on it, and he could not rest until someone knew about it. When he finally took the picture of our baby, wouldn't you know, he included the offending document in the picture?


If you're going to marry an editor, be prepared to have every printed document covered with editing marks. This includes, but is not limited to birthday cards, your grandma's Christmas letter, your child's 100% spelling test, motivational quotes, and wedding invitations from your best friend. And just because you think it's error-free doesn't mean there isn't an extra space, a missing em dash, or--Heaven forbid!--an error in capitalization. That's my man, making the world a better place, one semi-colon at a time.
I have to confess that he's rubbing off on me too. There's a sign in our neighborhood that says, "Sale Your Home." Every time I see it, I itch for a sharpie. How about you? Any editing impulses?

YouTube: Professional or Fun?

Before I became an author, I never thought I'd post a video on YouTube. Now, I have my own "channel." I guess it's the teenage spirit inside me who thinks it's fun to play around with Windows Movie Maker. I really have no other excuse. I've even heard it's a bad idea to make video book trailers because they don't always look professional. That should have discouraged me, I know. But my husband, a former film major, declared that my video is "sort of okay." So now it's out there. Have at it.

This time around, I asked my brother Randy for help with the music. He's a very talented musician, who plays with the group 40 thieves. They play Irish-inspired rock and are a popular group in the DC area. Randy is the fiddler for the group, but he also plays piano, drums, guitar, etc. The music he made for the trailer sounds a little bit country. Here's Randy playing with his band. He's on the left:

I got this picture from the Washington Post.
I won't tell you how he recorded it . . . unless you ask. Or maybe you can guess.

Which is the Real Cover? Cover Reveal

There are two different covers floating around the internet for Emma: A Latter-day Tale. Here's the right one:


(Have you seen enough Emmas on my blog yet?) Here's the wrong one:

The second cover is the one my publisher used for the Advanced Review Copies. Emma's hair wasn't red enough in this version, so the designer made some changes. 
Jane Austen doesn't ever mention the color of Emma's hair, only that her eyes were hazel. When I started writing Emma, I chose to make her hair red because I didn't want people to confuse her with Emma Smith, the most familiar Emma in LDS culture. However, the more I got to know her, the more her red hair seemed to suit her. She's the type of person who stands out whether she wants to or not.

Writing about Breast Cancer

My mom got breast cancer during my first year of college. While my mom had surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation, I was 2000 miles away. My mom is now a twenty-year survivor. My roommate's sister, whose cancer returned the same year, did not survive.

Since that time, I've had many friends and relatives who've had breast cancer. One of my friends was Anita. We were the same age and had daughters the same age. Though she passed away when we were both in our early thirties, I have learned so much from her. I'm thankful that Jolyn Brown has let me share the story of our friendship in her book, A Circle of Sisters. Isn't the cover so pretty? I love roses (at least I think they're roses. Tell me what they are if you know.)

Anyway, it'd probably be a violation of copyright to share the story I share in the book, so I'll share something I didn't already write about. As a young mom, I often felt exhausted and overwhelmed. The sleepless nights, frequent illnesses, potty messes, and fighting were sometimes too much to take. But having a friend who was dying gave me a lot of perspective. When I felt like whining about the crazy world of parenting, I'd think of how my friend would do anything to be as healthy as I was and to know she'd be around as her children grew.

Life is a gift. I'm grateful to be here, being a part of my crazy family world. I'm grateful for friends. Each one of you teaches me something.

Emma's coaching tips

My version of Emma is a life coach. I thought it'd be fun to give you a sneak peak at some of her coaching wisdom. Here are four of her tips from my upcoming book:








Now that I'm reading through these, I see that I've chosen the quirkiest tips. Yeah, I have a weird sense of humor. And, in case you're wondering, I created these on picmonkey.com, my new favorite photo editing place. No more photoshop for me! Have you tried picmonkey yet?

My Summer Bucket List

My kids have big plans for this summer. Me? Not so much. So, I'm coming up with my own big plans. While my daughter's going to Europe with her grandma, I'll be trying out recipes from the countries they visit. While my boys are at camp, I'll be having my own personal Shakespeare festival at home with dvds from the library. Here's the rest of my list:
Write! (I'm working on my version of Sense and Sensibility.)
Drive with Luke and help him get his license.
Have an Eagle court of honor
Swim Lessons for the little kids
Work on merit badges for my 11-year-old. (The fitness merit badge always whips me into shape.)
Help 13-year-old get going on his Eagle project
Take teenagers down to the church employment office and help them apply for jobs.
Hike Donut falls (because I still haven't done it.)
Do the library summer reading program.

What are your plans for this summer?

What is Michaelmas?

Two hundred years ago, Michaelmas was a bigger deal in England than Christmas.  There's a passage in Jane Austen's Persuasion, in which Anne mentions Michaelmas. She's staying with her sister Mary at the time and has just left her childhood home of Kellynch because her father has leased it to Captain Wentworth's brother:

So passed the first three weeks. Michaelmas came; and now Anne's heart must be in Kellynch again. A beloved home made over to others; all the precious rooms and furniture, groves, and prospects, beginning to own other eyes and other limbs! She could not think of much else on the 29th of September; and she had this sympathetic touch in the evening, from Mary, who, on having occasion to note down the day of the month, exclaimed, "Dear me! is not this the day the Crofts were to come to Kellynch? I am glad I did not think of it before. How low it makes me!"

The English celebrated Michaelmas on September 29. Like Labor Day in the United States, it marked the transition from summer to autumn. It was also a day for personal transitions, as happened in Persuasion--the Crofts moved to Kellynch. Michaelmas was a good day to lease a new home, hire servants, pay a debt, or to perform any other important duty. Even the poorest families celebrated by eating goose.

Michaelmas was held in honor of Saint Michael. Thanks perhaps to John Milton, who wrote Paradise Lost in 1667, Saint Michael was a hero to the English people during Austen's time. In Milton's work as well as in the New Testament, Michael is the archangel who leads the celestial army against Lucifer. Many English churches are named in Saint Michael's honor.

In Persuasion, the idea of Michaelmas brings additional symbolic meaning. It marks the autumn of Anne's life as a time of transition, perhaps a time to change old ideas and reject former advice. It also hints that Anne, like St. Michael, must conquer her own demons.

Jane Austen Giveaway Hop Winner

Congratulations to Christina Aho, who won the Jane Austen giveaway on my site!