Yesterday I had an amazing experience tubing on the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers in Harpers Ferry. It was a beautiful bright day to be floating down the white water. I was with a group of friends and we were slowly making our way down the river laughing and enjoying the water. We were surrounded by the mountains on either side. At one point I closed my eyes and was drifting off until I got splashed. When I opened my eyes I looked up and saw a huge mansion on the side of one of the mountains and it looked familiar to me. I realized that it was the back side of a retreat place that my church would go to every year.
I thought back to the last time I had been there with my church and I was at the lowest point in my life. I was extremely unhappy with my life, my marriage and very depressed. It so happened that during that last visit my son was sick and my husband at the time and I decided to stay at the retreat and take turns to sit with him so that we would not have to leave. I remembered yesterday how I stood at the window in the sunroom that I could see from the river and prayed that my life would change. From that sunroom years ago, I looked down at the river and wished that I could just follow the river and see where it would take me. Yesterday, from the river looking up at that mansion I realized that my prayer and my wish had been answered. I was following the river and have been living my changed life.
It was a moving experience to reflect on how my life has changed. I could imagine that young woman that I left standing in the window desperately looking at the river for escape. I looked up smiling knowing that my change had come and there I was not only changed, but on the very river I looked to for escape.
Sometimes it seems like there is no end to whatever pain or trouble or drama we have to endure. But there will come a time when we – each of us – will be able to look back and have our river moment. Just wait for it, it will be amazing. Trust me.
