The ascent of the Pyrenees was a cardiac stress test. My body leaned toward my boots the entire way. My trekking poles clawed at the gravely path and my biceps screamed in pain as they grew and tightened. With each straining step upward, my lungs stretched for another refill. I leaned hard and pushed myself forward. My heart thumped madly and my strained calf muscles cramped, trying to maintain my fight upward.
Near the peak I caught gale force winds. That did it; I couldn’t move another step. My quads, my calves, and my back muscles quivered and twitched under the strain.
I sat on a large boulder. I’m done, I thought. I can’t do this. Two things were certain: my suffering and a faith in God who I believed cares about my suffering. So, I prayed.
Lord, you suffered for us. And you suffered for me. Let me offer my suffering right now for someone who is suffering worse than me.
The father of two toddler-aged little girls in desperate need of a kidney transplant flashed across my mind. The fear that consumed those parents consumed me. Their suffering overwhelmed my suffering.
I chose to offer up my suffering for them. Miraculously, it revived me. In the next hours I completed the short descent into the Albergue at Roncesvalles, France- Grateful and Exhausted.
