Sometimes life gets in the way and things tend to stop, or at least slow down. After the 1st and 2nd Covid vaccines, I was sick both times. It took me off the ice for a total of three weeks. Then, the 2nd day I came back, I broke my left wrist. I cannot say that I was depressed. It was more like, devastated. I had made a lot of progress and there again, life got in the way. On the ice, injuries happen. I am training hard at two different rinks with two different coaches. I am the skating double in the film for the older Summer Ray. I take this very seriously. Off the ice again till June. But I am doing off ice training.
Which, I should have been doing the whole time and I wasn’t. I power walk. It was the stretching, ballet and strength training that I left by the wayside. But it all is important and it is all needed for the whole package. I was in ballet class, but my teacher couldn’t fit in private adult lessons anymore. But that shouldn’t have stopped me from finding another teacher. I even made my one room a ballet studio. I never once used it. I was skating way too much and not doing enough of other things that make a figure skater – a champion. I was lacking balance and I paid for it with a broken bone! I have no one to blame but myself.
I parallel this to Summer Ray. I have been soul searching and wondering if I have been out of balance with the project. Which, I honestly have no idea. I just try to put one foot in front of the other and do the next step that is in front of me. We finally got two working budgets and it is time for us to start going after the funding. But in the process of all of this, I have to still take better care of myself. I have to manage my health better. Feeling like crap the last several weeks, I haven’t wanted to do anything. Then we have to move right in the middle of this. But my focus needs to always be centered on the Lord. If I start to look around me at the storms, it is very easy for me to start to fall a part. He is my strength. Summer Ray is His project and I am not steering this on my own.
But truthfully, there are times when I try and I end up too close to shore, or in danger of being shipwrecked. Still, the lighthouse beacons ever so lovingly and we get back to work.
The Lord taught me to slow down the narrative to the pilot. It took some time, but now viewers won’t have to rush through getting to know the plots and characters. This is why we have made it a made for TV series, after the two hour feature film. The pilot is the foundation that sets the stage for the rest of the series. I am confident, it is exactly written now the way it needs to be and that is a good feeling. The budgets are completed and that is also an incredible burden lifted. But, just like my skating, I cannot rush and skip over essential parts. I could cost us time, money and effort if I make mistakes. I have a great team now and thankfully decisions are made as a team. Funding now is the next piece. I am excited to finally see production start. It will. How do I know this? It is because God always brings to completion what He starts. I could not have come this far without Him. He will continue to see us through to distribution. Then because the pilot will be such a smashing success due to His favor and how He led us to create it, we will then begin to produce the following episodes.
Continuing on in His Light, Love & Service,
Juliana
THE MEMOIRS OF SUMMER RAY 