Today I have a special guest: Reba J. Hoffman.
I came across Reba’s blog and immediatelly wanted to follow what she was doing. I invited her to share her adventure with you. I hope you enjoy her story as much as I do.
I poured myself into spandex riding shorts, loaded my bicycle with fifty pounds of gear and set off for who knows where on my Road to Freedom Bicycle Tour across America.
I had nothing mapped out. I didn’t know how many miles I’d travel per day or where I’d pillow my head at its end. I didn’t know what food I would eat or where I’d get it.
So why would I put myself through such a strange ordeal? Because there are untold numbers of women who have survived violent assault, only to be imprisoned in their own homes by fear, anxiety and panic.
They’ve been knocked off kilter and need to find their true north again. So, I began to pedal around the country in search of these women. God knows who and where.
At the time of this writing, I’ve traveled over 1,400 miles and have met thousands of people. Each dawn quickly filled with challenged unique to that day. Faces were different in those I met but, sadly, the stories in many cases were the same.
I stay and talk with the women I meet as long as needed. I sit and listen as they pour out their heart wrenching stories of attack or abuse. I offer them the only thing I have: the truth the God binds the wounds of the brokenhearted. I’ve seen women transform before my eyes. Their countenance changes into commitment. I’ve seen fear wash away when they muster the courage to face it. They take charge of their lives again and determine they will live it to its fullest again.
Interestingly, the one who has been transformed the most is me. Each day I must pray and trust God to guide me to places of ministry at just the right moment and bring a curiosity to the hearts of these women for a middle aged woman alone on a bicycle.
These women are finding their own true north, that place where they are at one with God and their world. And I found my true north. At least for now, I’m supposed to be “The Bicycle Lady”, riding through the countryside in America helping women face their fear and find their freedom.
I wonder, have you found your true north? Have you faced your fear and found your freedom? It is the most liberating and empowering thing you can do.
May you find your own true north!
Reba J. Hoffman, PhD, is the founder and president of Magellan Life Coaching. She has a PhD in Clinical Counseling and is the author of Dare to Dream and Facing Fear and Finding Freedom. She is the Member Care Coach for My Book Therapy and is currently riding around America alone on a bicycle to help women who have been victims of violent attack. You can follow her journey at www.RebaJHoffman.com.
