A Place to Grow

Mar 18, 2015 by Jeanette Hanscome

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I took this picture at Mount Hermon last year. Next week at this time I will be scrambling to get ready for my yearly trip to the writers’ conference that launched my journey as an author. I attended the Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference for the first time in 1995 as a nervous young mom of a preschooler who had finally gained the courage to start sending stories to magazines. Looking back, I was ahead of the game in one area: I’d just had my first story accepted for publication. Other than that I was completely clueless. My biggest fears as I prepared to leave were:

Navigating a completely unfamiliar place
Being the only one who didn’t know anything
Being the only one who didn’t have anyone to hang out with
Finding out that I wasn’t a very good writer after all

All of these fears were put to rest in the first 24 hours and I had such a wonderful time that I think I was on a high for a week after going home. Calling this first conference life-changing would not be an exaggeration.

In the 20 years since, Mount Hermon has become an extension of home. This glorious campus is where I grew up as a writer. I met many of my closest friends and mentors at this conference. I also…

Met the editor of a magazine that I still write for (at that very first conference in fact)
Made the connection that led to writing three books for Focus on the Family
Helped create the First-timers’ Buddy System and eventually became the official coordinator of the program
Served on the faculty as a workshop leader and Critique Team member
Met my wonderful agent, Wendy Lawton

More importantly, Mount Hermon is where God has done some of His deepest heart-work and orchestrated some of the sweetest moments with friends.

Next week, for the first time in nine years, I am going to the Mount Hermon Christian Writers’ Conference without a Buddy System to lead. I am not teaching any workshops or serving on the Critique Team. At first it felt very strange to be going without a job to do. I made up my mind to consider it a gift to be able to just go. Yesterday I recognized the beauty of God’s timing—that this is my 20^th anniversary of attending my very first writers’ conference. Like in 1995, I am going to just soak up all that He wants me to learn, but I am a much different person than when I arrived as a frightened newbie. Perhaps God wants this year to be a celebration of all the wonderful things He has done in this place.

Do you have a place that feels like an extension of home, or where you feel like you “grew up?” In what special ways has God used it?

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