A Leap of Faith - A Date with Destiny!

Thirteen years ago I was counting down the days until I took a leap of faith leaving behind my award winning social work career at the VA to "heal my life." I had no idea what it meant to heal my life or what my life would look like today. As Martin Luther King, Jr said:


After going through the phases of anger, grief, confusion and surrender, following the diagnosis of Post Polio Syndrome, the spigot of writing inspirational poetry opened in my heart and soul. I called my pen my divining rod for healing through which I created a world in which I imagined myself healthy, whole and running free despite being in a deconditioned state in the wake of childhood paralytic polio and enduring years of abuse at the hands of family members. I created a world transforming and transcending the pain from my past while holding a vision for a future overflowing with happiness, joy, freedom and of all things running despite never having run a day in my life!

"A Date With Destiny" was one of the early poems I created that you can find in "Feel the Heal: An Anthology of Poems to Heal Your Life":

What is so striking to me is that a poem I wrote in 2007 is now manifesting in physical reality. I write about the tremors being healed and having a strong core; creating myself anew and playing my game my rules (to quote Boston Marathon Race Director Dave McGillvray's favorite phrase that I only heard last year). At the time, I had not yet been discharged from Spaulding Rehab's outpatient care. I was told that I would need to spend the rest of my life in a wheelchair. I was by all appearances weak, deconditioned, wearing a leg brace, experiencing chronic fatigue and pain. Tremors were very evident at the time and yet, yet I wrote this poem that talks about the body falling away healed as I prepared to leave my award winning career as a VA social worker:

A Date With Destiny

Don’t wait til you die to let your soul fly free
please listen and hear what happened to me.
My body was broken every imaginable place
yet to the world always a smile on my face.
My soul trapped inside feeling it was broken too
God brought me out of darkness my light I shine on you.
She showed me the way through people I met
it took awhile a message hard to get.

The kingdom of heaven is right inside me
take the leap of faith fulfill destiny.
While I did my soul work and let my soul fly free
my body transformed changes did I see.
My head now aligned the tremor no more
my body aligned such strength in my core.
When once head detached from my heart and my soul
they all work together amazingly whole.
The rules that I live by are my rules alone
I found strength and courage the past now has flown.

I followed my heart to create myself anew
to feel simply Divine despite all I’ve lived through.
Take the leap of faith into grace I can fall
but I’m floating on air answering God’s call
Don’t wait til you die to let your soul fly free
there’s no reason to live a life in misery.
Follow your passions and I will tell you this
the body falls away healed when you follow your bliss.

I wrote volumes of poems. My body did fall away healed and I went on to run the 2009 Boston Marathon and transformed from working as a VA social worker to becoming an inspirational speaker, poet, blogger and endurance runner.

During uncertain times and when presented with our greatest challenges, we have unlimited possibilities for creativity, growth and a life beyond our wildest imaginings. With hope, faith, intention, attention to seeing beyond appearances and stepping confidently in the direction of our dreams trusting God to guide us, we arrive in our lives claiming our birthright to experiencing our purpose with happiness, joy and abundance.

Be sure to visit my website to learn more about my inspirational journey from a wheelchair to the finish line of the Boston Marathon and beyond!

My books are available on Amazon.

From my heart to yours
In health and wellness
With love and peace
Mary