About six weeks ago, I sat on an overnight bus from Paris to Bayonne, France. We were en route to begin our second month of the race—hiking the Camino de Santiago. While I was sitting on that bus, a message popped up on my phone from a friend back home that said:
“The God you love loves you and will use you in ways you won’t see until heaven! Praying and hope your trip goes smoothly, but don’t be surprised at a storm or shipwreck. Sometimes God has a way of using us [in ways] we don’t expect.”
Maybe it’s just me, but I don’t like storms or shipwrecks. I thought maybe this could refer to our travel plans, which were going smoothly, so I honestly just put that comment aside. Two days later, I found myself beginning the Camino. And as you all probably know, I injured my foot at the end of that first day.
Since injuring my foot, it has been a constant battle of feeling better and then feeling worse again. Even now in Morocco, I have still been struggling with pain on a constant basis. About a week ago, I hit my max with my foot. I found myself laying on my bed in tears because it was all just too much. I felt like I was constantly holding my team back and I hated having to say no when my team went out for a fun adventure.
It was in that moment that the Lord reminded me of my friend’s text on that overnight bus. This was the storm and the Lord saw it coming beforehand. Thoughts had been circling in my head of—maybe I just need to go home. I can’t keep up anyways. The lies were coming in from all different directions and I didn’t have the strength to dodge them. But in that moment, the Lord reminded me that He had provided 100% of my funds for the race back in April—four months before launch. And God saw this injury even before I ever considered the race. The Lord has so clearly called me here—who am I to give up so quickly?
As I sat in the Word that morning, the Lord took me to the story where Jesus got in a boat with His disciples and they sailed out to sea. While Jesus was sleeping, a huge storm arose. But Jesus calmed the wind and waves and led them out of the storm. Even though I feel like I’m in the middle of the storm—the Lord reminded me that He will bring me out of it. And the things that I’ve learned through it have been to purify me and make me more like Christ.
The Lord has been teaching me so much through this, but on a practical note, I knew I needed some more help to get better. This meant that I needed to return to the doctor and get another opinion. I honestly hate going to the doctor, especially overseas because you just never know what you’re going to get, but everything I had tried thus far to help myself get better had been unsuccessful.
Fortunately, we had made quite a few friends here in Morocco, so we asked our friends for a good doctor recommendation. Turns out there is a really good orthopedic doctor here who happens to be knowledgeable about all kinds of sports injuries. How amazing is that? So the next day, I went with my friend Connie to the doctor. As we were walking to catch a taxi, we stopped at a cafe to say hi to some of our teammates. Our teammates were talking with a friend they had met there. Connie and I walked on down the street and tried to catch a taxi. The first taxi refused and the second taxi couldn’t understand us. Then, our teammates and the friend they were with at the cafe came up behind us. Their friend, let’s just call him Joe, helped us get a taxi. Then, he proceeded to get in the taxi with us and told us that he would go with us to the doctor.
So, we go to the doctor and it turns out that this doctor doesn’t speak any English. Well, thankfully Joe was with us because he ended up translating for us the whole time. The doctor looked at my foot and determined that I just had a severe ligament strain—thankfully no tear. He recommended a different brace, some icy/hot cream, and some PT. As we were getting ready to leave, I obviously had to pay the doctor. And thanks to our friend Joe, who just so happens to be friends with the doctor, I got the Moroccan discount. I paid 200 dirham for this visit—about $20.
After we left the doctor’s office, I needed to go by the orthopedic store to get the brace and the pharmacy to pick up a few things. Joe knew exactly where everything was and took us right to the orthopedic store and then to the pharmacy. Afterwards, we caught a taxi to go to the PT place and set up an appointment for the next day. After leaving the PT place, we had a really hard time catching a taxi. But thankfully, Joe had a friend with a car so he gave him a call and what do you know—we got a free ride home!
The next day I had my first PT appointment. Joe met us at the cafe and went with Connie and me to the PT office. As we were trying to catch a taxi to the office, another one of Joe’s friends drove by and we ended up getting another free ride to the office.
Now, before I went to PT, I asked the Lord to provide a nice, calm therapist who spoke English and would really listen to me. And that is exactly what the Lord provided. My therapist has been so, so helpful. The therapy is actually working and I can feel my foot gaining strength. Not only that—the tightness and swelling have gone down immensely. I am doing several sessions here for the next week before we leave and head to the next country. I am optimistic that I will be back to normal soon.
Though this storm has been challenging for sure, the Lord’s hand has been evident throughout the whole thing. From providing Joe, the man of peace, to my kind therapist, God has been so good to me. Also, my team has done an amazing job of supporting me through all of this and I am so, so thankful. God has indeed used this injury in many ways—some that I see now and some that I won’t see until heaven. Either way, I am thankful that God has given me the strength I need every single day to continue shining bright for Him.
Thanks for reading and for being part of my journey this year!
