okay, now THAT was fun!

Do you remember my birthday post from last year?  I loved to roller skate around my driveway with my boom box cranked up when I was eight.  Oh, those were the days.  I read an article recently that challenged adults to reach into their past and recreate one of their favorite joyful memories.  Roller skating outside was the memory I decided that I would recreate if I was able to.  I told my family how I wished I could do that again...But the thought of rollerskating around my driveway as a thirty-something year old with my neighbors looking on brought up scary images.  (And, I don't like roller skating rinks~so that was not an option!) Besides, who roller skates around their neighborhood these days?

So the other day, I decided to pull out my roller blades, and try them out again..  I had asked for them for Christmas a few years ago, (even picked them out myself).  Well, apparently you need to buy good quality skates to enjoy them~and these were definitely not good quality.  So they sat and collected dust in my garage.  When I pulled them out the other day, I was hoping that they would miraculously, and smoothly glide me down the street, but alas, they did not, so I pitched them and resigned myself to a life without skates.

Then, two days ago, a tender mercy happened...a thrift store miracle!  It was one of those moments when you actually notice one of God's many interventions in your life~one of those times that He shows you that He has a sense of humor and that He loves you.  I prayed that morning to do God's will that day.  I got up, got ready, tidied up the house, and then left to go visiting teaching.  (a program in our church that we have to go visit other women, share a spiritual message with them, and serve them in any thing that they may need assistance with).

As I was going to visit this sweet lady, I drove past another friend's house.  The thought came to my mind (not my own thought) reminding me that she had told me about a new thrift store she had found a while back.  Although I had many things to do that day, I decided to call her and see if she wanted to go that afternoon~even on short notice.  To my surprise, she said she was already going to go there that afternoon, and had been wondering if I wanted to go~"even on short notice!"

So after I was done visiting teaching, we met up and went to the thrift store.  After browsing for a bit, she walked over to me with a pair of nearly new women's roller skates!  She hadn't known how badly I wanted to roller skate, and that I didn't even know that they made outdoor women's roller skates (don't laugh all of you athletes!)  She explained that they were Skecher brand, which was a really nice brand, and they were a fraction of the price.  Furthermore, they were in MY size...7.5, and only gently used!!!!  I told her how I longed to roller skate, and had just recently (only the day before) pitched my poor quality roller blades.

Of course... I bought them.

I put them on this morning, realizing I could listen to my ipod instead of a boom box, and I would be much less conspicuous!  And then I glided...all over the neighborhood (except when I got to a hill~another story for another day).  I had the time of my life, and look forward to skating more often.  Running has gotten really boring!

And that, is the miracle of the roller skates.  Who says God doesn't perform miracles today?  I see them time and time again in my life, and in the lives of others!  We just have to notice them!