When Maroney reached Fort Zachary State Park in the Florida Keys, she was badly sunburned, dehydrated and covered with welts from jellyfish stings.
At one time, she had hallucinations, in which she thought she saw monkeys hanging on the cage.
She stated afterwards, "So many times you think, 'I just don't want to keep going.'" She was encouraged by her mother and brother, who motivated her from the escort boat during the night.
Swimming in the night, by the way, was what Maroney described as "the hardest part."
Have you ever felt as if you were swimming in the dark? Perhaps, growing weary, you've felt like giving up. Here are a few things we can learn from Susan Maroney's experience:
(1) Work hard to accomplish your dreams.
(2) Surround yourself with people who believe in you and will stay with you, even during the "dark" times.
(3) Keep your goal in sight, even if you imagine things that aren't there.
(4) And above all else, keep swimming!
And if the above lessons apply to anyone, they certainly apply to us believers in these days! An old Japanese proverb advises, "Fall seven times, stand up eight." But Galatians 6:9 says it much better: "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up."
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com