When You Follow Where God Leads You – Great Things Happen

We are counting our blessings today on Thanksgiving and every day. As we reflect about this past year we can’t help but think about how God has remarkably changed our lives.

An amazing journey began in May 2015 when we were invited to a Disability Conference held at a Church about 30 minutes from us. We’re not sure about you, but sometimes when you commit to attending an event it may feel more like a burden than a blessing. We have to be honest, it was a struggle to attend. We were invited by a close friend even though the conference was for leaders of nearby Churches, which we are currently not. Another main reservation for going was the time frame. Mornings are difficult for us since we are up most of the night. Nevertheless, we felt this was a “God-thing” and knew we needed to go.

The night before the conference we had an especially rough night without adequate sleep. In fact, the morning of we almost cancelled. However, God had laid the vision of the KCT Project on our hearts years ago and even though we didn’t know what it would entail, we knew this conference somehow tied into it and God was calling us to attend. So we went.

We were intrigued that there were going to be speakers from Joni and Friends. Joni Eareckson Tada has been a quadriplegic for 48 years from a diving accident when she was 17 and then later started Joni and Friends. She was a main inspiration for us 18 years ago when Kelly was first hurt but we didn’t know that Joni and Friends had an Arizona office until this conference in May.

The conference was held by A Leap of Faith Learning, a non-profit founded by a family who in our definition “Beat the Odds”! Therefore, we were happy to attend in support of them and were praying God would open doors through this conference and show us what He wanted us to do.

We met the guest speaker that day, Sue Stratman. Sue almost didn’t make it either because she woke up with laryngitis. After hearing her family’s story about how her son Daniel had been severely disabled from a horrific mistake made by an anesthesiologist during a simple hernia surgery at 11 years old and how she vowed that if God let her son live she would do everything in her power to encourage women to trust God; we knew this connection was one of the main reasons we were meant to be there. Getting the chance to talk to her afterwards, we immediately connected and she put us in touch with Joni Eareckson Tada and later made it possible for our family to go to the Joni and Friends Family Retreat in July 2015. We wrote Joni how she impacted our lives & we received a letter from her a few days before attending Family Retreat. We were so encouraged!

Nothing in our world happens without complications. As we began the 3 hour trip to Family Retreat our van broke down (detailed blog to come) which God used to reconnect us with the Director of the Arizona Spinal Cord Injury Association (AzSCIA) after 17 years. They graciously gave us a ride home and discussed planning a Wheeling in Nature Event in Sedona. That ride also lead us to be ready to start a Spinal Cord Injury Support Group in our area.

Also because of discussions at Family Retreat and on the ride home, we were told about the Disability Empowerment Center in Phoenix, AZ (now Ability 360 Center). Both Joni and Friends and AzSCIA are located within this building. Later this summer we were able to tour the facility, reconnect with Joni and Friends Arizona, and meet Karen from AzSCIA who encouraged us to become part of the Christopher Reeve Peer Mentor Program.

We were so thankful and excited to attend the training at the AzSCIA this last week. The Peer Mentor program is to help people and/or families and caregivers affected by paralysis. We are grateful for all we learned at the training, to connect with new people, and to be peer mentors to help others with our experience of all we have lived through and overcome.

We are also very thankful to be working with the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, AZ Spinal Cord Injury Association and Joni and Friends! So much has happened because we obeyed God’s instruction to attend that one event in May. Such as officially launching our KCT Project in September in honor of Kelly’s 18th Anniversary from when he rolled his jeep. As well as recently being invited and attending the annual Joni and Friends Arizona Director’s Dinner.

There is so much to be thankful for! May we all count our blessings and be thankful for all we have…big or small. But most importantly, trust God’s plan and follow His instructions.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving from the KCT Project!

Love, The Taylors

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