Making Tough Choices

Series: Metamorphosis of a Mom: An Interview With Janet Lynn Salomon

Leslie Basham: Janet Lynn was a world-class athlete with opportunities to compete all over the world. Then she was faced with the same choice that a lot of young moms have to make.

Janet Lynn Salomon: Well, the choice was, "Was I going to continue the opportunities that I had and leave my children at home, with no parent there, with some sort of baby-sitter or was I going to be supportive of my husband and the talents and gifts that God had given to him?"

Leslie Basham: It's Monday, March 22; and you're listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss.

World-class athletes are gathering this week for the World Figure-Skating Championships and thousands will "ooh and aah" over the brilliant jumps and spins.

Today we'll hear from a woman who knows what it's like to skate with the best in the world. She also knows what it's like to give up a career that she loved. Here's Nancy to introduce our guest.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Our guest this week on Revive Our Hearts is Janet Lynn Salomon. And many of you remember Janet Lynn as the wonderful, talented world-class athlete figure-skater from the early 70s. By the age of 19, she had won five U.S. National Lady's figure-skating championships and a bronze medal in the '72 Olympics and bronze and silver medals at world championships.

Janet, thank you so much for being with us on Revive Our Hearts this week and for sharing a little bit of your story with us.

Janet Lynn Salomon: Thank you, Nancy. I am so honored to be here and that God has provided this opportunity to me. And I'm delighted to meet you. I have just a real passion to encourage moms in their job of motherhood, to see that it is the most intimate of professions that you can have--but it will affect more lives than you could ever imagine.

I have discovered that there is a tremendous purpose in what I am doing. I wouldn't be doing it fulltime any more if there was not this holy sacred mission that I have discovered in this task.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Now, to back up a little bit, as you were embarking on this skating career so young, something also happened to you when you were 12 years of age that really was the foundation for the rest of your life. Tell us about, something about your spiritual journey.

Janet Lynn Salomon: My parents were very faithful in bringing our family to church every Sunday from the time I was little. But I never really heard clearly the Gospel of Christ and how He died for my sins and forgave me and had a wonderful plan for my life until I was 12.

And at that time, I accepted Christ and His plan for my life. And I desired to live for Him. And at that time, I gave my skating to him, at age 12. And what He did with my skating is just beyond my wildest imaginations. I was such a normal child who was very shy, and here I found myself skating around the world, literally.

And He used it in some incredible ways that maybe we can talk about at another time. It is quite a long story, but God used my skating and I always tried to give the glory to Him. And many people, I still get letters of people that were impacted by what I did. But I know that it was not me, it was Christ in me.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Janet, you were inducted in March of 2003, into the World Figure-Skating Hall of Fame, which is quite an incredible honor. You and Dorothy Hamill at the same time, am I right about that?

Janet Lynn Salomon: Yes. Yes.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: And so you've had some incredible honors. But I was"¦my sister actually sent me a transcript of the remarks that you made at that ceremony. And I was so touched by the way that you reflected glory to the Lord for giving you this gift and for allowing you to use skating as a means of reflecting the beauty and the glory of God.

Janet Lynn Salomon: Well, as I always say, there was no way that I could plan everything that happened, the people that were a part of my skating that taught me everything and the things that happened to me, there was no way that a person can plan that. It had to be a Living God who had a plan.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: And He has been incredibly orchestrating that plan for your life, as He does for all of our lives. And the key is letting Him have His way and fulfill that plan in our lives.

And I imagine, that as a little girl, you couldn't have dreamed that you would have all those incredible skating honors and opportunities and accolades. But probably you couldn't have imagined also, the pilgrimage that the Lord would take you on beyond your skating career.

Janet Lynn Salomon: I really could not imagine. I retired from the Ice Follies prematurely because I developed exercise-induced asthma. And I got married and had three small children.

Then I went back to my career because my husband thought that it had been taken away from me prematurely--and diet and exercise and allergy discovery helped my asthma to clear up--so I did go back to skating. I think our sons were probably four and two-and-a-half. And the twins were two-and-a-half. So I had three children within less than two years.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Three boys! Three boys! My mother had four girls and three boys. And she said, "There's no comparison in the energy level required with boys!" And you had these three young boys, one set of twins. And with your husband's encouragement"¦

Janet Lynn Salomon: Oh, very much so.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss:  you went back into"¦

Janet Lynn Salomon: I went back; my career revived. It took a lot of hard work, but my career revived and I was very successful in going back and really had wonderful opportunities.

But in the process of all of that, I had, you know, a marriage and children; and I thought that I was balancing everything just fine. That's really what I thought. And that my priorities were very clear that my family came first.

As a matter of fact, there was an interview that I did for P.M.Magazine. And in that interview I said, "If I ever have to give up my skating for my family, I will. But when I said that I had no idea that God would make me put my money where my mouth was.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: But He was actually going to ask you to do that.

Janet Lynn Salomon: Well, just situations that came up that He brought into my life would place a decision before me. And at that time, in my heart I felt like it was a choice between "the way of life and the way of death." And by His grace, I chose "the way of life."

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Now tell us a little bit about this choice, and we're going to hear more about that in the next program, but just give us a taste of that choice that you faced at that time.

Janet Lynn Salomon: Well, my husband had a wonderful opportunity to do something that he had always wanted to do, and he would have to go away for three-and-a-half months, away from our family to be able to pursue this opportunity.

Well, the choice was, was I going to continue the opportunities that I had and leave my children at home, with no parent there, with some sort of babysitter or was I going to be supportive of my husband in the talents and gifts that God had given to him.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Because the opportunities you had were taking you in travel around the world as you were skating.

Janet Lynn Salomon: I was traveling around the world. And I had just wonderful opportunities coming up--actually things that I had only dreamed about in my life--skating at the Metropolitan Opera and the Kennedy Center which were once-in-a-lifetime opportunities, and those I had to choose--I didn't have to choose, but I chose that by God's grace, rather ungracefully on my part, that it was not the right way to go.

The issue of quality of time was always very important to me when I was skating and traveling around the world and spending quality time with my children. And that was fine.

However, I realized that in quality time, that I didn't know my children. I didn't really know them. And I didn't have time to get to know them, really. I didn't have time to listen to them.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Because you were missing "quantity time."

Janet Lynn Salomon: And as I started spending "quantity time" with my children and being there all the time, day in and day out, I started realizing that there are issues of life that come up.

You cannot plan the teachable moments in a child's life. They are totally "unplannable." They come up at the strangest times. And some of those conversations, a lot of those conversations, that where you are dealing with issues of life, may not ever come up again in their lifetime.

And what was I missing before, that I didn't know?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: We're going to talk more about that choice and some of the struggles that you had as God brought you back into your home, fulltime--and then gave you more of a heart for your home than you'd ever had previously. And a heart you probably didn't even, at the time, realize needed to be further developed.

On our next Revive Our Hearts program, we hear more of that story. But, you know, Janet, one of the things that has struck me is, in just a little bit of time I've had to get to know you, is that you made that choice to come back to your home and to leave a lucrative career and some incredible opportunities, not because your emotions necessarily were telling you that was the right thing to do but out of obedience to God.

You felt this was what God wanted you to do. And you've shared with me that it wasn't easy then. It's not always been easy since. But that you are so thankful that you have followed God's will and God's direction in your life.

And you said something to me a little while ago, just before we came into the studio, you said, "I have such a sense that I'm in the center of God's will." And there's a joy and a sweetness and a freedom that I see in your face, see in your eyes and sense in your spirit because of making what is sometimes a tough choice to really obey the Lord.

And I would want to say to our listeners, "I don't know what choice you're facing today that may be a really tough one. It may be the challenge that the Lord wants you to come into your home and spend more time focusing on supporting your husband and rearing your children.

You may be a single woman, and you may be facing some totally different choices. But you know what God wants you to do. You're struggling to obey."

Can I just say that the freedom and the blessing come when you wave that white flag of surrender and you say, "Yes, Lord. Whatever You want me to do, that's what I'll do."

We're going to hear more about Janet's story on the next Revive Our Hearts, but I just want to challenge you even before hearing more of it. Is there something the Lord is saying to you and you need to just say, "Yes, Lord. I will obey what You're saying."

Leslie Basham: Nancy Leigh DeMoss has written powerfully about what it means to wave the white flag of surrender. If your obedience is being tested through some tough decisions right now, you might want to get a copy of Nancy's book called Surrender.

It's available on-line at ReviveOurHearts.com. While you're there, you can get a copy of this week's conversation with Janet Lynn Salomon. It's available on cassette for a suggested donation of $5 or on CD for $7.

You can also get a copy of Janet's story in a booklet. It'll remind you what an important role mothers play. It will also challenge you to obey God in whatever way He's calling you. Just ask for the booklet Metamorphosis of a Mom when you call with a donation of any amount.

Your gift can help us buy radio airtime in your community. Would you please join us in calling women to freedom, fullness and fruitfulness in Christ? You can send your donation to Revive Our Hearts. Or call 1‑800‑569‑5959.

Sometimes obedience can be very painful. Janet Lynn experienced that when she had to make a difficult choice. And now, let's join Nancy in prayer.

Nancy Leigh DeMoss: Lord, I thank You for Janet and for her sweet spirit and the way that You have been at work in her life, orchestrating the details and the circumstances and bringing her to have a love for family, for marriage, for children.

And, Lord, You are no less involved in orchestrating the details of our lives. Thank You for that. And may each of us, in whatever season of life You find us today, be tuned to what You're saying, what You're doing and then may we be responsive to Your leadership and Your calling and Your voice in our lives so that You can be glorified as we are women who walk with You. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

Leslie Basham:

Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss is a ministry partnership of Life Action Ministry.

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