Jeremiah 29:11, New Living Translation

“For I know the plans I have for you,” says the LORD. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Endurance Part Four

The stroke and FMD changed my life and my relationships forever.

I might have been designed for endurance, but my husband wasn’t. My twenty-eight years marriage ended.

In every way imaginable I had to start over from scratch. This new race was a lonely one, and I wasn’t sure who I was anymore, and I couldn’t see my future. This time God was going to have to do all the heavy lifting, and I was going to have to trust Him completely.

But God has an amazing sense of timing.

October 5th, 2013, I completed one hundred miles of running, biking, and swimming, in a cold, pouring rain.

On the exact same day, two years later, October 15th, 2015, I completed a walk, with assistance, around the perimeter of my yard. Both were huge accomplishments for me. Ones that made me dig deep and find out who I was and what I was capable of.

The irony of it was amazing… Or was this an example of God ‘s omnipotent wisdom and plan for my life.

Maybe finding that book at the library was not random at all.

I now realize I had been competing in an endurance race for a long time before that day. I was just enduring things I shouldn’t have been.

Maybe God was training me for the toughest challenges and some of the hardest decisions I had yet to face… and maybe He is preparing me now for the best part of my life yet to come.

And…I received another miracle in the year after my stroke. The most precious gift of all… despite some glitches (and against all odds), I did get most of my sight back!

All things are possible through God. And some day I believe I am going to swim through another one of those beautiful orange and red sunsets…. either in this life…or, on the way home to my Heavenly Father.