Running with Heidi

Yesterday I took my daughters to the city all by myself. This was the first time I had driven there on my own, and I'm pleased to report that it went rather well. It seems silly that I have lived here for almost six years now and my maiden voyage to the city happened yesterday, but I had some physical problems that put a halt to my driving for a few years, and it's taken some time to regain confidence on the road.
It was something else that happened yesterday that made me realize just what a huge step this was. Heidi and I were walking on the sidewalk, pushing Hannah in the stroller, when Heidi asked if she could run. I said yes and we ran and laughed together, Heidi telling me "I love to run, Mama, it's my favorite way to go!" I don't know why it hit me at that moment, I've run with her before, but suddenly I realized I was running.
I was RUNNING!
You see, I spent nearly six years of my life using a wheelchair to get around practically everywhere but at home. I had extreme pain in my legs that increased with walking or standing. I spent a couple of years going to doctors and enduring what my mom calls "modern tourture chambers" (otherwise known as tests and procedures) all to discover that I had dysautonomic neuropathy. Which is a difficult way to spell "my-body-wasn't-doing-the-things-it-should-on-its-own-properly-and-this-was-somehow-related-to-my-nerve-endings-causing-me-pain". Which is a difficult way to say, "We have no idea what's wrong".
Not knowing what was causing the pain meant not knowing what would eventually happen with it. I was told, "It could stay the same for the rest of your life. It might get better and you could even be symptom free some day. Or, it could get worse." I thought, "Wow! It's a good thing you neurologists go to school for so many years, I never could have made that prognosis on my own!" But I said thank you and let them feel like they had helped me.
That season of pain was also one of growth for me. God certainly used it for good, and while I don't look back at it with pleasure, I do look at it with gratitude. Without it, I would not have learned many valuble lessons, nor have the same level of trust in my Lord. That said, I am pleased to report that He has chosen to heal me. It was a gradual process, one that seemed to start a couple of years after Karl and I got married, and to tell the truth, is still continuing. I last used the wheelchair when Heidi was an infant, and though I go through periods of pain, am so happy that for the most part I am able to keep up with my little ones. That had been one of my biggest fears, what would happen when I had children? Would I be able to care for them? Play with them? God took care of those things for me. I never should have worried. I know He is sufficient. Even had He not healed me He would have provided all I needed. To Him be the glory!
My Heidi asked me to run with her, and I did.