Let the rivers clap their hands, let the mountains sing together for joy;

Psalm 98:8

He defied hardships and lost himself in danger. Theodore wasn’t a stranger to loss. On Valentine’s Day, at the age of 25, his mom, Martha, died of typhoid fever. Eleven hours later, his wife, Alice Lee Roosevelt (two days after giving birth to his daughter) died of a kidney disorder.
He faced his fears and the frontier. Inconvenience and hard places kept his body and mind free from aches.

Defeats, tragedies, obstacles, and weaknesses only grew his grit. Adventures in the outdoors and willpower quenched Theodore Roosevelt’s thirst for greatness.
It wasn’t any surprise to his 2^nd wife he would break away again…to a punishing adventure. Punishment through physical challenges or punishment to himself for the pain and loneliness?

“On the banks of the River of Doubt, the same unyielding will and thirst for achievement brought him face to face with the absolute limits of his strength.” (Millard 2005)

“After his humiliating election defeat in 1912, Theodore Roosevelt set his sights on the most punishing physical challenge he could find the first descent of an unmapped, rapids-choked tributary of the Amazon. Together with his son Kermit and Brazil’s most famous explorer Candido Mariano da silva Rondon, Roosevelt faced an unbelievable series of hardships: they lost their canoes and supplies to punishing whitewater rapids, and endured starvation, attacks, disease, drowning, and a murder with their own ranks. In the end, three men would die, and Roosevelt would be brought to the brink of suicide, but the expedition accomplished a seemingly impossible feat, and changed the map of the Western Hemisphere forever.” (Millard 2005)

“Who hears the rippling of rivers will not utterly despair of anything.”

Henry David Thoreau

For those of you familiar with President Roosevelt’s life, you might know of the tragic death of his son, Kermit (who accompanied him on this river trip). I was once in despair. It’s not that I didn’t want to be HERE. Just not in pain. Mental Health is not a disease. It is part of all of us. What flows through us and gives us hope? How do we face challenges and ride the rapids? How can we recognize the need for utter relief and build resiliency?

Resilience is the residency of Christ in my heart. The rapids we face are the battles for our hearts.💛

Days of floating the Ozarks’ rivers flow through my soul. Tranquil tributaries turned to raging rapids at times. The gushes and torrents were tough teachers. My resolve to rally runs like rivers. Droughts will deplete. Rainfall replenishes. Floods forge with my faith. Rivers rally my resilience. There’s healing in hard times-continued creek crossing despite crisis.

When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you…Isaiah 43:2

“The life of God is described in scripture as a river–a powerful, gorgeous, unceasing, everrenewing, ever-flowing river.” (Eldridge 13).

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you. A joy.” Rumi

Our Creator can calm currents. His love and grace will flow freely through the tributaries of your heart. 🩷

May the river of life from God flow in and through us and take residency of our hearts.

K.L. Hale

I will make rivers flow on barren heights, and springs within the valleys. I will turn the desert into pools of water, and the parched ground into springs. Isaiah 41:18

“Love is the river of life in the world.” Henry Ward Beecher

“Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.”

Norman Maclean, American author, from “A River Runs Through It” (1976).

“You drown not by falling into a river, but by staying submerged in it.” – Paulo Coelho, Brazilian author, from “The Alchemist” (1988).

‘”The river has great wisdom and whispers its secrets to the hearts of men.”

Mark Twain, “Life on the Mississippi” (1883).

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Works Cited

Eldridge, J. (2022). Resilient-Restoring Your Weary Soul in These Turbulent Times. Nashville: Nelson Books.

Millard, C. (2005). The River of Doubt. New York: Anchor Books (a division of Random House, Inc.).

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