Selah Sail

Words are not enough to express what you have given us...

 
                                            Cane Garden Bay, Tortola                                                                            Manchioneel Bay, Cooper Island                 

The energy put into making this trip happen and keeping it moving every day...that sacred effort has opened a door for fresh air to blow into my burned out heart. It all started when I felt the urge to dive into that beautiful ocean...            

     This past spring I was wrung out from 9 mos of treatment for breast cancer that took place during a time of intense family turmoil.  A fellow prayer team member from my church heard about Selah Sail, decided I needed to go, and sent out donation letters to friends and family for me.
     We flew into the British Virgin Islands and met Jan and Nicole on our boat.  Right from the start they served and cared for us.  Each day there we sailed to a beautiful snorkeling spot and swam with all sizes of brilliantly colored fish from large blue Angel fish to vast (10 ft. by 50 ft.) schools of little 1 inch long  silver fish that flashed and sparkled in the sun. Not to mention the colored coral making up the reefs, jellyfish, and one day we saw about 10 squid. 
     Early in the trip after we had just returned to the boat from snorkeling I felt like I wanted to dive off the back of the boat.  Jan said it was OK so I dove once, then again and again. It felt so good just to let go and have fun. I learned to play again and got my smile back there in the beautiful aqua waters. 
     The healing impact of the trip did not end when our plane touched down in Portland.  Floods of color with waves of the color aqua flooded me during worship when I went to church the following Sunday.  I have had several needed spiritual breakthroughs. The Holy Spirit keeps whispering to me that the door is open on a new season of my walk with Jesus ..... a season that started on that Selah Sail trip.                             

After eight months of surgeries and cancer treatments, experiencing Selah Sail, was like winning the lottery!  Seriously, after three major surgeries within four months and then radiation treatment, I felt somewhere between dead and half dead. 

Selah Sail helped me feel alive again.  Feeling the wind on my face, the sun on my skin, propelling my body through water, I remember being overwhelmed with the sensation of body awareness. Snorkel mask and all, I cried tears of joy to be able to feel my body again, moving in a playful, strong way. With the warm, humid air and the mobility I was able to feel in the water, my pain and stiffness eased...I began to feel physically whole again. 

And emotionally, mentally whole?  Yes, this too began to strengthen. Each survivor had an amazing story that they had lived to tell.  Each woman had undergone such hardship and yet they shone because of who they are, not because they’re cancer survivors but because of the person they elected to become.  Part of what I learned from my co-survivors is this: cancer can’t destroy your core self.   All of these beautiful women agreed, we were not the same after the experience of cancer, we were changed in some ways but what I saw and witnessed first hand is that these women were extraordinary in their individual ways.  So I knew, if cancer hadn’t taken their spunky personalities from them, it hadn’t taken it from me. 

And I must speak to how remarkable the skipper and her lovely assistants were (cookie and dingy captain).  These three women opened their hearts to perfect strangers and surrounded us with unconditional love.  They completely took care of us, we were so nurtured and spoiled for the entire week, it was truly touching to feel such love.