Let me preface this blog by saying that this is something I really don’t want to write about but the Lord keeps bringing this up
and I feel that this is something that He wants me to share.
I haven’t wanted to write this blog because I don’t want it to seem that I am dwelling on the past, but because this was so recent the Lord keeps teaching me through this experience.
I have resisted writing this for the past week and a half but know that I need to be obedient to what the Lord is telling me.
Seven and a half months ago, in August, my older brother and I were in a serious car accident on our way back to
North Carolina from
Texas.
I ended up with numerous broken bones,
lacerations on my face, and a punctured lung.
My brother broke his leg and foot and also had severe bruising on his brain.
Due to the location on the accident and the severity, my brother was taken by helicopter to a hospital in
South Carolina and I was taken to a hospital in
Georgia.
I was in the hospital for 1 ½ weeks, then was able to go home to recuperate.
I was out of work for a little over two months.
My brother was in a coma for
2 ½ months at the hospital in
South Carolina.
He was finally moved to a rehabilitation hospital in
Charlotte,
NC where he underwent intense therapy for a little over a month.
About
4 months ago he was moved to a nursing home.
I
say all this to share
what the Lord spoke to me on race day in
Lima,
Peru.
The day of the race my team decided that only four of us would race.
We would start out as the six of us but if need be we would split off.
I really wanted to do the whole race because I knew that it would be challenge for me physically.
Since my accident I have had a little bit of a hard time breathing due to my injured lung.
During the race, which included a lot of running and some swimming,
I was a little bit behind the rest of my team and even sometimes had to stop and walk because I couldn’t catch my breath. Since my accident I have has a little bit of a hard time breathing due to my injured lung.
When I first started having a hard time breathing, I became really frustrated, not even realizing that that was the reason I was having such a hard time. I knew that I needed to keep going though.
I didn’t want to let them down.
At one point as we were running from our swimming physical challenge to the place we were going to eat, I had to walk quite a bit.
During this time the Lord really spoke to me .
My child you are not letting me down.
Look how far you have come.
And it was all through me.
Keep pushing on and pressing in. You are running my race my daughter.
At that point I thought he was speaking to me in more of a physical sense but he has shown this to me spiritually as well.
” Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.
Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it.
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead.
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” Phillipians 3:12-14 (NIV)
I did not think that 7 ½ months ago I would have been able to run this type of race.
I shouldn’t be able to.
But through the Lord I was able to do so.
He kept pushing me on.
Also the day of the race my brother came HOME!!! To my parents house.
The Lord was really speaking to me about how he and I are both running the race.
My race at that point in time was literally a race.
My brother was running a race that day in a physical sense as well.
He improved so much that he was able to go home.
He still will need intense therapy and still can not fully walk on his own ( He has to use a walker), but through the healing of the Lord he is steadily improving.
Race day was a very emotional day for me.
The words that the Lord kept speaking were to continue to press on and press in, in everything that I have for you.
Times may be rough, you will face many trials in life, you may not always understand my ways but I am always with you and I will never leave you.
I don’t understand why my accident happened, why I was able to “walk away” and my brother is still recovering and I may never know.
But I do know that my God is a mighty God and He has a plan for my life and the life of my brother.
He has us all in His hand and we are all his children.
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say again: Rejoice.” Phillipians 4:4 (NIV)
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart: do not depend on your own understanding.
Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take”
Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)
