Eternal Stars

Carol Lowes

Description

From childhood onward Anne loved to soar through the air in jumps and glide as a competitve figure skater. Sexual abuse threatened her life yet circumstances propelled her to the Worlds then Olympic Games. What would the outcome be if all Anne's desires and dreams for a medal and marriage came true?
As a child Anne made a commitment to Jesus and to follow the teachings of her local Baptist chuch. This led to a life of expectations and personal challenges but not a loss of conviction. It also set Anne up for dependancy on her husband and continuing issues with sexual exploitation.
Find out how Anne and her friends found closure and started down a path to healing and restoration from brokeness. Take the journey with Anne, an unlikely champion who earned many personal bests on the ice and finally Olympic glory.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Sports
• Fiction
• Sport

Informations

• Publié par: AuthorHouse
• Date de parution: 17 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9798823011716
• Langue: English

Extrait

Eternal Stars
 
Chasing Olympic Dreams
 
 
 
 
Carol Lowes
 
 
 
 
AuthorHouse™
1663 Liberty Drive
Bloomington, IN 47403
www.authorhouse.com
Phone: [phone]
 
 
 
 
© 2023 Carol Lowes. All rights reserved.
 
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
 
Published by AuthorHouse  07/13/2023
 
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1172-3 (sc)
ISBN: 979-8-8230-1171-6 (e)
 
Library of Congress Control Number: 2023913024
 
 
Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.
Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.
 
Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.
CONTENTS
Introduction
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
INTRODUCTION
W E BLAZE ACROSS each other’s minds, if only for a moment but long enough to capture each other’s attention. Sometimes a spark is kindled or dark desires. No matter, we all have a deep desire to be memorable to someone.
Anne Taylor wanted to be memorable to God. She wanted to express her uniqueness to the world and be a champion of God’s kingdom. She wanted to be like a mighty river, letting kindness and happiness flow into streams throughout the world; just as it says in Psalm 46:4: There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. Figure skating, womanhood and the church were the streams in which she would allow goodness to flow.
Minutes, that’s all she had for her skating performances to etch smiles on all those who watched. Her image, interpretation and expression for the love of skating will glide across ice. Each movement will be measured in seconds once the television lighting comes on and the rink is illuminated. Anne is a person whose heart and spirit speaks to those who watch; and in that instant hopefully they feel her passion.
Achieving this moment took a teacher, and a coach, who eventually became her husband. It required thinking, pacing, talent, dedication and a lot of hard work. It even took the sacrifice of time, money and energy. It took dedicated friendships and a family who helped her. But why did she bother?
Back in the day, some conservative Baptists thought this dialogue as a skater was a huge waste of time. Anne was determined to blaze a trail; or at the very least, she wanted to try. She would say something even if it was ridiculous, and she always gave it her all, even if she ended up on her butt in front of everyone. She did it because she could. God gave her ability and she decided, like Madeline (her adoptive mother) and her grandmother Ruby, to see this dream through, to develop herself, and to express her heart publicly.
When Anne was young, she heard a story that made her fearful. It was the parable of Matthew 25: 14-30:
For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property. 15 To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability. Then he went away. 16 He who had received the five talents went at once and traded with them, and he made five talents more. 17 So also he who had the two talents made two talents more. 18 But he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master’s money. 19 Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them. 20 And he who had received the five talents came forward, bringing five talents more, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me five talents; here, I have made five talents more.’ 21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 22 And he also who had the two talents came forward, saying, ‘Master, you delivered to me two talents; here, I have made two talents more.’ 23 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ 24 He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, 25 so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ 26 But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? 27 Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. 28 So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. 29 For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 30 And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of t eeth.’
CHAPTER 1
“I ’VE NEVER SEEN anything as beautiful,” 7-year old Anne gushed.
Wisps of Anne’s breath swept Sparrow-with-Eagle Wings’ nose and cheeks. It was Friday night and the pair of five year old girls stood on the wooden benches in the front row of a packed arena. A hush fell over the crowd. The men on the ice tossed their partners in unison high into the air. The momentary gleam of blades flashed together with the sequined white satin and spandex. They seamlessly glided covering all the entire ice surface to the Moody Blues famous hit Nights in White Satin ; then they left the ice. Newly acquaintance friends, Sparrow admitted to Anne she had only ever seen this sort of thing on television. Then the slow melancholy of Beethoven’s Moonlight Sonata filled the arena.
Anne heard a man nearby ask: “What is it they’re doing? What’s that move called?” His wife, whispered back: “A death spiral.”
There was the fluttering billow and cresting of purple ruffles. “I’m not sure I like it then,” he gruffled. “Hmm, I don’t like the name but I do kind of like it. I can’t believe I said that out loud.”
“I do too,” his wife smiled.
Anne overheard every word and daydreamed about being just like that woman on the ice.
The skater held her partner’s hand as she circled him, her face coming dangerously close to the ice. Sparrow thought it was achingly romantic. Madeline, who sat behind the girls, usually thought figure skating performances were excessive and tacky; however, the performances we were witnessing on this particular night she really enjoyed. She even said it was the most dazzle to happen in our small town. We always knew though, it would never draw the same numbers as the NHL.
“I’ll bet we could do that with the right help and a lot of work,” blurted Sparrow.
“I don’t know,” Anne said somewhat doubtfully. “I sure want to but do you really think we could ever be perfect like she is?”
“Yes, if we just stop doubting and truly believe it, we can do anything!” asserted Sparrow with her cool confidence. “I know at least you could. I’m not as sure about me though ‘cause I don’t know if this is what anyone like me has ever done. But you will be a great skater. You’ll soar just like that.” Sparrow asserted with confidence. “Just believe it and have some faith. I have faith in you.”
Sparrow’s grandmother predicted that Sparrow would soar like an eagle through the storms of life and Anne knew that this assurance was where Sparrow’s full name, Sparrow-with-Eagle-Wings, had come from. She lifted a beaded necklace from her neck. Sparrow’s grandmother Sheila made this and gave it to her before she left her home for her foster parents. Sparrow passed it to Anne and she placed it over her head.
As Anne admired it, Sparrow smiled and said, “My grandmother said whoever wore this would make it in life. She said she hoped it would make me feel protected, and I am feeling protected, so now that I’m sure of that, it is your turn.”
“Now you’re being ridiculous,” said Anne. “You said you skated on your grandmother’s pond before you came to live with the family at the church, and I have never skated once. What makes you think that I would be a skater or that you wouldn’t be as good as them at skating?”
“Maybe, but I believe you can do it Anne! Just pray for it over and over, after all, what could it hurt if it’s what God wants, then it will happen,” Sparrow profoundly stated.
Madeline and her fellow Baptist friend Yvonne Carringstone were listening to the girls. They both smiled looking at each other as they heard the girls gush about what the skaters wore and marvelled at how they could glide and spin with such finesse. The girls began whispering then turned around to their mothers and asked for skating lessons.
“I guess we could afford that,” Madeline smiled. “Some basic lessons aren’t likely to cost an arm and a leg and it would fill some of your free time quite nicely instead of parking your bottom in front of the TV set.”
“I think we could swing it too,” nodded Yvonne.
To these rural women this show was somewhat cheap and tacky but just like the girls they still loved it but didn’t care for actual grandeur. This was ab