About Me

My journey

A road of discovery and growth

I was born in the 1950s in Wisconsin, the younger of two daughters of an alcoholic Roman Catholic couple who married during WWII. There were always a lot of cousins running around at my maternal grandmother’s home. I enjoyed spending time at her house, sleeping on the front screened porch. That was a safe thing to do in those days. In fact, I recall I always felt safe at Grandma’s…safe to be me. That was something I did not feel at home. Sadly, she died when I was 11, and a light went out in my life.

My teen years and the years that followed graduation were wild, painful years searching for another place of belonging, beauty, and fulfillment. I rebelled against my religious upbringing, and as one might expect, having left my faith in God stuffed away and hidden on a shelf, my search took me to all the wrong places and people – themselves emotionally and spiritually bankrupt. I partied and played hard and spiraled into drugs, depression, and desperation.

Meanwhile, my young nephew, my sister, and my mother – in that order – gave their lives to Jesus and began praying for and evangelizing my father and me. I scoffed but began to see in my sister a peace I’d never seen before. On January 18, 1976, the three of them were baptized at a non-denominational Charismatic church, and I was invited. I remember nothing of the service except that the pastor at one point asked if there was anyone there that evening that felt they needed Jesus but hadn’t found Him yet. I raised my hand, and with fear and despair and fury raging in my heart, gave my life to our Lord. The fury was because, even then, I knew without a doubt there would be no going back. I was giving up the reins. But He loved me out of that anger and promised to complete His work in me always. Phil. 1:6

Six years and one failed marriage later, in 1982, I moved to California and began another odyssey of moving from one denomination to another every time I moved house. I’d search in every new area and ask God where He wanted me. I spent the better part of 14 years in Foursquare, which gave me a deep Scriptural foundation and a love for the experiential Christian life found in Pentecostalism. I was nurtured well by some exemplary Christian women and made a few life-long friendships.

I began feeling restless and distanced from that church family, and in 1997 attended a memorial service for a neighbor at a Presbyterian church in Monrovia. During the service, I clearly heard God say to me, “This is where I want you.” I was dumbfounded and not a little irritated. I inwardly stomped my feet and pouted, but by the end of the service found myself surrendered to that call, and have been there since. God challenged me, saying “You’ve been an experiential Christian. Now I want you to become a thinking Christian.” And so it has been. The “learnin’ and thinkin’” have deeply increased my love and my passion for God.

The journey continues

In 1998, I settled in Monrovia and married my husband Denny. For the 13 years prior to retirement in December 2020, I worked in the administrative area of health care, which I found rewarding. We knew that what we did directly affected the quality of patient care and patient satisfaction. I had quite a bit of opportunity to communicate directly with patients and found it extremely satisfying to be able to solve a problem for a patient.

Personally, I’ve experienced much transformation and growth in my own walk with God through spiritual direction, and plan to have a director for the rest of my life. I’m much happier, more fulfilled emotionally and spiritually, and recognize in myself a level of wisdom that probably would not be there without it.

Creating a safe and welcoming space for others to tell their sacred story - and respond to God’s amazing love - brings me delight. It also causes me to depend more fully upon the Spirit and compels me to bow in worship.

There are people of many different faiths, and some of no faith at all. Most people, however, hold that a human being is a spiritual being, whether they ascribe to any faith or not. Are not music, art, and poetry all produced by the human spirit? However, I can really only speak from my own faith tradition. I am a Christian and speak from that perspective.

In my free time

When I’m not meeting with clients, I fill my days with other things I love.

Spending time with family and friends, doing jigsaw puzzles, lots of reading and exploring bookstores, raising the caterpillars and watching our Monarch butterflies hatch, and being active in my church as a small group leader all bring me joy. Time spent in the local mountains, and sunny afternoons at the ocean will always bring me back to center as I marvel at God’s creation.