Seeing the Hand of God

Have you ever been able to look back and 

see God's hand in your life?

I surely can. In 2007 I ran the Disney Marathon. It was the hardest physical endurance event in my life up until then.

I trained for months in advance, building up to 24 miles. Saturdays were my long runs and I'd be gone for hours. Yes, I was very slow. I had all of the best music loaded to my MP3 player. I was planning to focus on the music and not the discomfort I knew I would feel. It was dark outside when the race began. The temperature was a bit cool but it felt good in my lungs. At mile 2 the MP3 player quit. No more music. I was really mad for about a mile and then I began to have to really focus on my breath to keep from succumbing to heat stroke. Eventually, my legs got really tired. My heart rate was way up and it was 85 in Florida in January and I was really sunburned! I stopped at every station to down s much water as possible to stay hydrated and to slather Biofreeze all over my body to try to cool it down.

If I could just keep putting one foot in front of the other... I kept telling myself some version of - "This WILL be over. This race WILL end and the sun WILL set and this evening WILL come. Now what do I want to say to myself tonight? Do I want to be proud of myself and be able to say that I completed a marathon? Or do I want to say I was too slow and the bus picked me up?" Of course, the answer was easy but the implementation was not! I kept putting one foot in front of the other and that night I was actually able to say "I completed a marathon!"

I believe that God used my ordeal during the marathon to teach me and prepare me for what He knew was to come. The doctors say that one of the reasons I survived was because I was in such good physical shape. While that may be true, I believe another big reason I survived is that God had already prepared me during the marathon to control my breathing, make myself calm down, to relax, and to focus on the fact that, eventually, this WILL be over. Did I want to come out of this knowing I’m a fighter and praising God with my life? Or did I want to die? The answer to that question was very easy. I wanted to live.

That brings me to today. I recently travelled through Italy and God birthed a dream in me that is so strong.

While in Italy, I found myself critiquing the places I went  (I usually do whenever I go anywhere). I noticed what I thought hotels, restaurants and shops could do to better avail themselves to someone who - 1) is an amputee or injured person in a wheelchair, similar to me, and has some ability to move around; 2) is an individual a wheelchair who does not have the ability to move around, such as the elderly, the illness-related or the badly injured Of course, I would write about my experience.

This is my dream. I long to travel and to write. To write about the accessibility of the different places I go.

Now, this is the very beginning! I know it needs tweaking and a lot of work, but this is the dream that God has placed in my heart.

I hope that you join me in prayer to be able to realize this dream.