In 2020, I started experiencing a shooting pain in my leg. I was an avid backpacker, so this was depressing for me. The pain crippled my mobility—and seemed to coincide with the crippling effects that the Covid shutdown was having on the world. A Christian Science practitioner had been praying with me, but the situation had not appreciably changed. By sitting more and walking less, I was avoiding pain but not overcoming the underlying condition. Temporary relief is helpful, but it is not healing. Still, I wasn’t discouraged. 

Because this coincided with Covid lockdowns, it occurred to me to hold virtual travel events each week with hiking friends. This felt like a divinely inspired idea, and we were all blessed by the camaraderie. We also stepped out of our comfort zones by giving presentations. And we made plans for the future when things opened up and travel was easier. Spiritually speaking, in caring for one another and overcoming the fear of public speaking, we lost nothing.

In 2022, during a time of spiritual study and prayer, I felt divinely led to keep my mind open about my next hiking adventure. This required a big leap of faith in God, since I still could not walk comfortably. Half an hour later an email arrived from a friend inviting me to join a group of Christian Scientists for a weeklong mountaineering trip that would begin three months later. The goal was to backpack to a base camp, then climb a fourteen-thousand-foot mountain.