When I Learned to Ski on TV for Free

Run after your dreams.
God will make a way!

When I was a little girl, my favorite spot in our cold Wisconsin home was in front of the heater vent in our living room. I would sit there and enjoy the dry heat on my backside while doing homework, reading, or watching cartoons after school.

When I turned 10, I learned to ski there. My one desire in life at that time was to ski. I had no boots, no skis, no poles, no way to get to a ski hill – just a desire.

To my delight, I found ski lessons on Milwaukee PBS Channel 10. There, in the comfort of my little spot on the floor, I learned to strap my equipment on, position myself in a snowplow, and glide down a gentle bunny slope in front of my black and white TV console. Soon I learned to make a turn, how to fall, and how to stop. So mesmerized was I that my parents understood my heart’s desire and by the time I was 13 I had my own equipment and was enrolled in the Blizzard Ski School, riding the rope tows, t-bars, and chairlifts of such wondrous 1964 Milwaukee area hills as Alpine Valley, Little Switzerland, and Wunderburg. I truly felt like I was in heaven

Ski lessons were fun and I quickly advanced in rank, with stripes for my jacket to prove my amazing ability. Could my early TV lessons have made a difference? There is something about mental training. Visualizing where you want to be and going through the motions to get there. As a young girl, I didn’t know about these things. All I wanted was to learn and I found a way to do it.

Is there something that is in your heart? Are you thinking that your age, education, ability, finances, situation, or your family are keeping you from it? Do you say things like “someday I’ll have that,” “someday when things are different, maybe….”? I am here to tell you to stop it! Start today. Find a way to teach yourself. With internet and books and people there are many ways to climb those ranks and get stripes on your jacket. Ask God for wisdom and creative strategies. Watch for divine appointments to come your way. Your heart, passion, and desire are attractive to those who carry what you want. Step into it. Call yourself what you want to be.

At 10 in front of my heater and an old TV, I believed I was a great skier before I ever tried. I just did it.

God will make a way! Have fun!

I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland. (Isaiah 43:19)

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Crisp Mountain Air: August 27 - Fresh Focus

Crisp Mountain Air: August 27 - Fresh Focus: Some idea or new adventure is taking flight today and coming into focus. "With God, all things are possible....

Love Truly Conquers All

Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one's life for one's friends. John 15:13.

I have friends like this. Friends who would do this for me and friends I would do this for. They include lifelong friends, family,  and my best friend, my husband.


But what does it mean? It's not complicated. It's just that love overcomes. Love makes all the difference. Love truly conquers all.

It can change self absorption that leads to depression into awareness, thankfulness, and compassion for others in our life - an intentional gift that brings healing not only to others but to ourselves.

Love overcomes sadness and brings joy. The touch of love fills a gray day with color. Love tickles and sparkles and glistens and glitters and permeates. Like osmosis, it invades loneliness and brings the lonely into families. Love is a catalyst and is contagious. It inspires, takes risks, and can slay the monsters in our lives that would keep us from where we want to go...what we want to do...and who we want to be.

Love is an encourager, a cheerleader, a best friend. Love is noticeable - in a glance, a voice, and in a laugh. As missionary Heidi Baker says "Love looks like something." It compels and motivates, heals, and never stops giving - both to the receiver and the giver. Love is a verb, an action word. It is something we all need and all need to give. It softens the giver so the gift can be received. It strengthens the receiver so the heart can be enlarged.

Love triggers romance, and romance triggers love. It is the one divine gift that is never taken back and always multiplies. It is a kindness and devotion and true food that every human craves and every human was given the capacity to give.

Love bestows identity. It turns a pauper into a prince or princess, opens us up to the inheritance of abundance, sets us on our feet, pats us on the head, and sends us out the door with a hug and kiss and a "you can do it." It embraces us in security, warmth, and light. It fills dark corners of our soul with a never ending supply of hope. It assures us that it is going to be okay. Everything is going to be okay.

Today, I want my friends to know that I would lay down my life for them. I live because of them. The food that feeds me is to encourage my friends and bring them hope. When I am this person, doing these things, I am happy. I am at peace. I am in love.

My Happy Places

Do you have happy places? You know...those places that make you feel alive and healthy and exhilarated? Where you know you could be happy living out the rest of your days? Where you know - you just know - that you were created to be? I would love to know about your happy places. Meanwhile, can I tell you about mine? Here is my list:
• Skiing a high glade on a blue sky day at Mary Jane (Winter Park Resort - Colorado).
• Biking next to the wide Sacramento River in Redding, California on a brilliant and colorful fall day.
• Being caught up with a boogie board on a big wave in Maui.
• Sitting in a quiet "fort" by myself with only a pen and notebook in a cove at Little St. Germain Lake in Wisconsin.
• Wading on the shore of Lake Michigan, letting the cold waves, the sand, and the lake air fill me.
• Hiking with family on Elliott's Ridge in the Eagles Nest Wilderness, Colorado, - the fresh, thin air, the sun on my face, the wildflowers abundant...
• Cross country skiing on Coyote Run at Latigo Ranch in Colorado.
• Fishing at Mesa Lakes on a crispy spring morning on Grand Mesa in Colorado.
• Riding my horse on the trails of Gore Pass north of Kremmling, Colorado.
• Walking my dog at sunset near our old family home on Gore Pass.
• Sitting in the cold and drinking hot coffee at sunrise, watching with my husband for that buck.
• Walking after a rainstorm and experiencing the scent of pine and sage, and spotting rainbows - again, Gore Pass, Colorado.
   I like the dusty old-time atmosphere of a rodeo and the sounds of our horses and cattle on a crisp morning cattle drive. I like the mustiness of a newsroom with the tap-taps of an old typewriter, and I miss the chemical smell of the darkroom. I like old George Strait songs and the wonderful invitation of cinnamon rolls from my oven. I miss warming my backside by a wood stove. I love the laughs of a baby and the happy squeals of children. I love the ring of a phone with a loved one on the other end. I love my mother's old letters that sit in my hope chest.
   As Rick and I look at another life change with new jobs and moving, it's nice to remember I have lived in places I have loved and I carry them with me still!
   I declare and decree I will find a new happy place soon, where I can breathe content in knowing I live right in its center.
   Thank you for letting me go on this journey with you today! What place makes you happy?

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11 NIV

The Best Breakfast Ever!

  

   We had been fishing since before dawn without a single bite. Maybe the water was too warm. Maybe we weren’t trying hard enough. Perhaps we were simply content to just float and watch the sunrise in silence.

   When the mist cleared, we noticed someone on the beach. "How's the fishing?" he shouted. My friend, Pete, heard him suggest we cast out in another direction. We thought, what the heck, we’ll try. To our surprise, the fish were hitting and before we knew it, we had caught our limit. We took up the anchor and headed to shore.

   The man on the beach was bending over a campfire and we could smell the fresh bread he was baking in a dutch oven. Pretty soon we heard the sizzling of fish in the pan and we realized just how hungry we were. The man smiled and waved and invited us to bring some fish and join him. All of a sudden Pete cried out, took off his shirt, and jumped in the water to swim to shore. The rest of us rowed in and pulled the boat onto the sand. Crazy Pete - we were all thinking.

    We walked over to the campfire, and there, to our utter shock, cooking breakfast for us, was the friend we had watched die just a few days earlier. Were we dreaming? He was joking and talking as if nothing had happened, and he warmly greeted us.

   Our friend was alive. He was alive! And he was making us breakfast! Pete sat next to him, weeping. What was this? What happened? All we knew was that the joy and love felt greater than ever – and our hopelessness and grief were now turned to hope and laughter. Jesus was really here.

   When he died, we grieved that things would never be the same again.

And now that we knew he was alive, we were - and are - sure of an even greater truth which sounds the same but means so much more:

   Things...will...never...be...the same...again!

My book, "Tapestry," is available at Amazon.com. It, too, will give you nourishment of the soul!  Click here for information and to order: Tapestry

A Home Isn't Always a House

This painting is by 4-year-old Mesa Toft.
She named it "Valley of the Paint."

There is banana gook on the makeshift high chair; a fleece ladybug blanket on the couch; children’s books everywhere; paintbrushes in the sink; toy trucks on the coffee table; and sippy cups still in the fridge. A sticky mystery resides on my iPhone, and the TV isn't working quite right. These are all telltale signs of a week spent with lively, button pushing, curious, and adorable 2 and 4-year-olds who are now back home in Texas. I’m not quite ready to pick everything up or clean. I kind of like basking in the afterglow of their "happy."

On another note, I drove by our former home in the mountains yesterday. My vintage Oriental Poppies were blooming and two horses now reside in the pasture our own beloved horses used to frolic in. The scene was a picture postcard as rain (and tears) gently fell.

Now, I could choose to deal with both these things with more tears--missing the children and remorse over the loss of the home our family built with our own hands. The "sads" could come quite easily if I let them. But I just can't host regret. I do have a choice on how I let these things affect me. I choose to be thankful and that changes the way I think - which changes the way I feel.

I am thankful for the week the kids were here and the fun we had. I appreciate the happy memories we made in our old family home. I feel blessed with the life we now lead in the beautiful high desert of Colorado. And I am so excited for the things ahead that are coming and that are good and that I don’t even know about yet.

Yes - I will and do live in this place of promise and hope. I choose to make that my home now.

Yup. It's time to pick up the toys and wipe off the stickies.

For I know the plans that I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

My book - Tapestry - The Divine Design for Your Life - will change the way you think and unlock God's amazing plans and promises over your life. Click to order at Amazon.com.

Speak To That Storm! (Or God Loves James Taylor)

There's a new album out by Bethel Music called "You Make Me Brave," and I love the lyrics of one of the songs that says "The waves and wind still know Your Name." Remember those times in the Bible when Jesus spoke to the weather and everything calmed down? The sea calmed. The wind stopped. He even tells us we could move mountains. What kind of power and authority has He given us?

Check out this post I wrote on my Facebook and then read the rest of the story right after:

"The storm ceased, the clouds parted, and rainbows abounded - literally - as the concert began. It was a wonderful experience - touched ALL my senses - made me weep a bit just to be there with my daughter, Bess, in such a beautiful place with a beautiful sound.... When James Taylor sang "Fire and Rain," he picked up his old guitar and with his beautiful playing and his amazing voice filled Red Rocks Amphitheater. Later, when we were heading to our car, we could still hear his final encore song bouncing off the rocks near the parking area. Everyone just stood silently, facing that rock, and listened to "Shower the People You Love with Love." No wonder Rick and I fell in love during all those 70s concerts at Red Rocks!"

So what is the rest of the story?

Five minutes prior to those clouds parting, it was storming with a vengeance. Dark clouds, heavy rain, wind, thunder, and lightning pummeled the park. Bess and I sat in her car wondering if the concert would be cancelled. I remembered the words in that song - remembered the promises of what happens when we speak out loud to our storms. I shouted: "Storm stop; go away; rain stop; blue sky come! In Jesus' Name!" I texted my husband to pray. I swear, within two minutes I saw white clouds moving over the tall red rock walls. Soon Bess looked out her driver's window and declared there were two rainbows. The rain stopped abruptly. Everyone got out of their cars and began to ascend the hundreds of steps into the theater God made when He created the earth. Soon the sun was shining over us. The storm was over Denver in the distance. We saw more rainbows, more lightning over the city in the distant view from where we sat. But the weather over us was perfect. I think God loves James Taylor, too. What an amazing experience! The next day Jamie, Bess's roommate, told me the rain never stopped that night at their apartment which is about 10 miles away.

So. Remember my story next time a storm tries to thwart your plans - whether it's a weather storm or one of those storms of life. Speak out loud to it. Tell it to go. Expect a miracle! (And if it doesn't happen the first time, keep trying...keep hoping!)

I would love to hear your testimonies of speaking to your storms!