| They call it Meditation Rock, I call it Miracle Rock. | | | | wasn't giving me any breaks. That special young man |
| Beautiful, serene and the perfect place to sit quietly, | | | | got engaged (and not to me), my grandfather passed |
| read and pray. That's just what I did - until I fell off it. It | | | | away and my uncle committed suicide. I was a wreck. |
| was a twenty three foot drop with a rock-solid landing. | | | | Totally and completely depressed. I did find a job I had |
| Ten broken bones, three broken teeth, four years and | | | | wanted all my life - a youth director. But, I was so |
| a whole new life later I'm ready to tell my story.Long | | | | discouraged that I couldn't keep it up. I had no idea |
| ago I knew I wanted to be a camp counselor in the | | | | what to do with my life. Once again I found myself |
| spectacular mountains of Colorado. I wasn't a big fan | | | | questioning God.I began to make lists of things that I |
| of my college. The only thing I liked about it was the | | | | loved. A funny thing came to mind. Bean Bag Chairs. I |
| giant bean bag chair that I crashed on in my dorm. I | | | | was infatuated with the huge bean bag chair I had in |
| had to get out of there. I applied to the perfect camp | | | | college. I even got a job selling them my sophomore |
| and sat by the phone for weeks waiting for my | | | | year. Every time I thought about what I wanted to do |
| acceptance call. Rejection was not what I expected, | | | | for a living the word bean bag popped into my head. |
| but it is what I got. Angry at God I begrudgingly headed | | | | Though it felt crazy, I decided to call my old boss and |
| to a smaller camp in Maine - a state I hadn't heard of | | | | tell him how I was feeling. He suggested that I start |
| since my 6th grade geography class. Little did I know I | | | | selling his bean bag chairs in Maine for a 20% |
| would fall in love...with Maine, with Matt and with the | | | | commission. I gave it a try. That Christmas I decided to |
| Lord. Let's start with the Lord. We met at Chop Point | | | | sell the bean bags at a small strip mall. I set up a tiny |
| camp. We had been acquaintances for a long time, but | | | | little business in a back corner. The business consisted |
| it was there that our true relationship began. I'd wake | | | | of one employee (me) and three bean bag chairs. |
| up early, drudge my way up a windy path and crawl | | | | Then Matt came along. Again. He just happened to be |
| under Meditation Rock. There were a lot of jagged | | | | an artist and somewhat of a perfectionist. He |
| rocks under Meditation rock but there was one | | | | encouraged me fix up the corner, build print business |
| smooth, flat rock that was perfect for quiet times. | | | | cards and pricelists. He also began (or maybe I should |
| That is, of course, when the tide was out - otherwise it | | | | say continued) to pursue me relentlessly. Over time I |
| was covered in water. It was there, on that special | | | | noticed some pretty amazing qualities in Matt. These |
| rock that I discovered the Word was living and active | | | | qualities won my heart. We have been married for |
| and that, it applied to my life! I visited this special spot | | | | two years now and I'm still not sure when the |
| regularly over the next four years. Speaking of special, | | | | honeymoon is going to end. As our love grew, |
| a particular young man caught my eye one summer at | | | | Heavenly Bean Bags also blossomed. Eventually we |
| Chop Point. One that I just knew was the one for me. | | | | started making the bean bags in Maine and adding all |
| I'm told I called his name out over and over when they | | | | sorts of new features (like removable, washable |
| found me broken beneath the rock. He wasn't the | | | | covers). We set up at the same little strip mall every |
| man, however, that drove an hour every day for a | | | | Christmas Season. Although the business venture kept |
| month to visit me in the hospital. No, I broke up with | | | | us incredibly busy, we knew that Matt's art was a |
| that man long ago. He wasn't the one for me. I knew | | | | talent that we did not want to let go of. Matt and I |
| best.So there, I lay beneath Meditation rock bleeding | | | | saved some money and made prints of his work. We |
| and murmuring this other young man's name over and | | | | rented 40 feet of space from the same little mall and |
| over again. I'm told I whispered "help me sweet Jesus" | | | | started something totally new. We gathered the work |
| a few times between the painfully embarrassing | | | | of local Christian artists, including potters, |
| displays of emotion. Over an hour later I was | | | | photographers, jewelers, painters, stained glass |
| life-flighted to the Central Maine Medical Center where | | | | artisans, and furniture makers (bean bags included) and |
| I under went 18 hours of surgery. I remember none of | | | | sold them on consignment. We fell in love with the idea |
| this. The first thing I remember is my friend Matt, the | | | | of supporting Christian artists and now we are going to |
| one I'd broken up with long ago, sneaking me a sip of | | | | pursue it full time. Tomorrow, we're signing a contract |
| water when the doctors were looking the other way. I | | | | with the biggest mall in Maine, the Maine Mall. We are |
| was dying of thirst and they would only give me ice | | | | opening our own store, Genesis Guild. Genesis Guild will |
| chips! I spent more than a month in the hospital. I was | | | | specialize in Maine Crafted Home Decor items made |
| blessed to be alive. Somehow, miraculously, I did not | | | | by Christians!So here I am at two o'clock in the |
| land on the dangerously jagged rocks, but on the one | | | | morning thinking over what God has done in my life |
| flat rock I had spent so much time on. Not only that, but | | | | over the past four years. I had it all figured out. I was |
| the angle of the rock I landed on leaned toward the | | | | going to a camp in Colorado, working with youth and |
| water. I managed to roll up the rock. I should have | | | | marrying "the man of my dreams". But God had a |
| rolled off and drowned. I did however, shatter my | | | | different plan. I went to a camp in Maine, fell off Miracle |
| knee, break my femur in three places, destroy my hip, | | | | rock, married a wonderful (but real) man, started a |
| crush my wrist and spit out a few pieces of my back | | | | bean bag business and am about to open a store in |
| teeth (into Matt's hands). But, I was alive and had no | | | | the biggest mall in Maine! Although it was incredibly |
| damage to my head, neck or back. The recovery | | | | hard at times, I thank God that I fell off a cliff and into |
| period was still quite the process. It took years. People | | | | my life!Valerie Lecher's life changed dramatically when |
| thought I would get depressed right away, but I didn't. I | | | | she fell off a cliff a few years ago. She now owns |
| was surrounded by loving family and friends for | | | | and operates and has her own store at the Maine Mall |
| months. Then my world began to fall apart. The reality | | | | in Portland, Maine. |
| of the recovery time hit me and in the meantime life | | | | |