River Moment

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.