Weary, now refreshed, and NOT giving up!

I remember hearing a sermon years ago where the preacher was talking about growing weary in waiting for God to answer his prayers. I remember him saying he didn't want to get to heaven and find out that he was one prayer, one day away from his prayer being answered and he lost faith and gave up instead.

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When she looked ahead, Florence Chadwick saw nothing but a solid wall of fog. Her body was numb. She had been swimming for nearly sixteen hours.

Already she was the first woman to swim the English Channel in both directions. Now, at age 34, her goal was to become the first woman to swim from Catalina Island to the California coast. On that Fourth of July morning in 1952, the sea was like an ice bath and the fog was so dense she could hardly see her support boats. Sharks cruised toward her lone figure, only to be driven away by rifle shots. Against the frigid grip of the sea, she struggled on – hour after hour – while millions watched on national television.

Alongside Florence in one of the boats, her mother and her trainer offered encouragement. They told her it wasn’t much further. But all she could see was fog. They urged her not to quit. She never had… until then. With only a half mile to go, she asked to be pulled out. Still thawing her chilled body several hours later, she told a reporter, “Look, I’m not excusing myself, but if I could have seen land I might have made it.” It was not fatigue or even the cold water that defeated her. It was the fog. She was unable to see her goal.

Two months later, she tried again. This time, despite the same dense fog, she swam with her faith intact and her goal clearly pictured in her mind. She knew that somewhere behind that fog was land and this time she made it! Florence Chadwick became the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, eclipsing the men’s record by two hours!

From The storytellers.com

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Last night I met up with a friend of mine where she was camping and we cooked dinner over a fire, watched a movie on the beach, and then just hung out talking around the fire until early this morning. When I finally left it was around 1 am and it was very dark.

I had trouble finding my way home and wound up getting really lost. For 35 minutes I basically drove though the woods and countryside, totally lost. At one point I thought I was going the right way but the road just seemed to grow more and more narrow and take me deeper and deeper into the countryside. Surely I must be lost. Finally, confident I was lost, I turned around... then I REALLY got lost.

My GPS system (aka Charlie) only works sometimes... I begged Charlie to work... finally he kicked on and told me which way to go... "When possible, make a legal U-Turn..."

Charlie told me to go back the way I was originally going, deep into the woods. It was about 4 1/2 miles down this narrow windy road. It turned out I had turned around only 3/10ths of a mile shy of where I needed to be. I was almost there and then I doubted myself and gave up.

I have grown weary over this last year waiting for my children to come. But I am listening to my Sovereign Navigator and confident I am going in the right direction. I am not going to give up, just shy of crossing the finish line. I am going to press on, full of faith with my eye on the goal. I am close to the finish line...

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