Waiting Sunday

Preparing for tomorrow which will be our first day on the journey across the continent.  This year is very different already from the 2008 tour in which I spent a lot of time alone and worried about my mothers ailing health.  It was a huge burden to arrange for others to look after her and a large leap of faith to leave her in the care of several people while I was away.  Mom didn't always behave so well and would have preferred I didn't go.  My husband and kids encouraged me greatly and so I ventured out into the middle of the country in 2008 to begin my portion of the ride in Denver, CO.  For me that tour was a 'mourning ride'.  Grief over losing a father I never REALLY knew and a mother who was dying by degrees.
This year in contrast I have labeled a 'joy ride'.  Joyful to be physically able to do it, joyful to have such a supporting family and joyful for friends who encouraged me during training rides. I bet many of my childhood friends would have never guessed I would or could do such an amazing thing as bicycle across the U.S. and Canada.  I grew up in a single parent home with four brothers.  We struggled often with near poverty occasions when my mother had to make some tough decisions.  It was a time I don't often talk about what the reality of it was like.  I became quite the actress at a very young age, smiling to hide the sadness and fear I felt as a child. 
Tomorrow begins the 'joy ride' as I celebrate another victory over my past which only God could have orchestrated.  There have been many 'wins' over the course of my life and it is when I am victorious that I remember my favorite passage from the book of Joshua chapter 1 verse 9.  "Have I not commanded you?  Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go."