Once upon a time I lived in a house with a woman who was CRAZY about art and creating lively, cool things.

She made the MOST WONDERFUL Halloween costumes (surely the reason why Halloween is one of my MOST FAVORITE holidays – and it IS a holiday – of the year). Her costumes were elaborate and full of imagination.

She made wild, crazy art in her 30s, and into her 40s. THEN, (insert tire screeching sound), in her 50s, she decided ‘enough’ with this stuff I LOVE to create. I’m going to follow the money train.

Soon, this artistic woman’s body began to break down. Her heart lost its vibrancy. She couldn’t sleep. And bears (yes, bears…like the big grizzly bear kind) started coming to her right before she would close her eyes to go to sleep each night.

Bear energy is all about the inner dreamland. Bear comes when we need to go inside again.

Night after night she would blink her eyes praying that big ol’ bear head would GO AWAY! AAAAaaaaaah! She would pull the covers up over her head and then peek outside and there it was – still hanging over her looking at her.

One night she said, “What do you want?”

And the bear said, “I want to invite you to dream again.”

That’s when the artist began dreaming again, and she began to play again with her art and she danced with the ideas in her head and made many wonderful creations that touched the lives of the people she met.

What’s the moral of the story?

Follow your art… not the money. The money follows your art and your art comes from your heart.

P.S. This is based on a very TRUE story. Bear and all…

Some of my favorite heavenly artists…HEAVENLY!

http://www.inspired-art.com/inspiredartworks/home.html

http://www.nanoel.com/

Is this a sanctuary or what? Nancy’s use of light makes my heart smile.

Yes, it IS July in Texas, and it is HOT. Did we say 105 degrees hot? Yes, it is H-O-T.

But then Mr. Chance Ferguson decided he wanted to go to Six Flags. True, his wonderful parents DID take him in 101 degree weather TWICE already this SUMMER.

The truth also is that we told him we would not go again for the rest of the summer due to the heat (or, rather, threat of heat stroke). This is where the story gets funny…

So I hear Chance in the other room talking to God asking God to make it rain so he can go to Six Flags. This is not unusual for Chance as we’ve taught him to ask and talk to God about EVERYTHING, and he has seen so many times that his weather requests are granted, he can boldly say… I asked for that!

Sure enough… about a day later, the rains come in, the clouds billowed in, the temp dropped to 75! And Chance is positively BEAMING and announcing that it is going to be cool ALL WEEK LONG!

I have to say… I love his spirit. He rarely will take no for an answer… and even when we arrived at Six Flags and he saw that the coaster he wanted to ride was closed due to clouds, he just asked for the sun to come out, which it did, then it got hot, so he asked for the clouds to come again, which they did, then it sprinkled, and another coaster shut down, so he asked for it to stop raining, which it did, and he manifested an entire day exactly the way he wanted, riding every ride he intended, and leaving well after his parents wanted to.

Isn’t it fun?

I enjoy watching it… and watching the clouds move in and out.

On the way home, we watched the most gorgeous sunset. The clouds were iridescent pink and purple. I can’t remember a more beautiful sunset.

Then Chance asked… “Mom, aren’t the clouds beautiful?”

I said, “Mmmm, hummm, yes, they are… they look like a painting.”

Then Chance said… “God made it just like that.”

Yes, that’s perfect.

A few weeks ago, Kathy Garland and I held our third Fearless Manifesting call. On the call, Doreen Fisher (who we asked to come make her musical debut at Fearless Manifesting) shared the most amazing, miraculous story about being out in the middle of nowhere, with a car that was cleaned out, with $30 cash in her husband’s pocket, $10 shy of what they needed to pay their campsite fee, and miraculously finding $10 in change in a car that was completely cleaned out!

What a GREAT story… and I had a Doreen Fisher moment myself yesterday. I stopped to get lunch and the bill was $5.40. I had 20 cents in nickels and a dime, but after digging around in my wallet for even another dime (hey, I could give them 10 pennies, right?), I opted to go with six dollars and get change. I dropped my dime and nickels into my wallet with the rest of the pennies.

Down the street, I decided to get an iced tea at Starbucks. I haven’t bought one in a while so I didn’t realize the price went up. I had two bucks, I knew, but didn’t realize it would be $2.27. As I pulled out the dollar bills, I thought, no problem, I have 20 cents and I’ll just give him the pennies for the seven cents. As I opened up my wallet, I saw two shiny quarters – it was almost identical to what Doreen shared in her story. I could NOT believe it. Five minutes earlier, I had just scoured my wallet (and purse) for an extra dime or two so I would have to break another dollar bill (yes, it is a long-held habit to maximize how I manage my money).

And, now, here were TWO shiny – almost too shiny quarters. This is how Doreen described it! I immediately called her to share… it was so much fun!

While this might seem like ‘no big deal’… the feeling I have when things like this happen is almost euphoric… like I am held in God’s hand… safe and sound!

As I post this photo… I see In God We Trust stamped right there on the coin!