About Louise Ann Gibson
Hope in the Hardest Miles
I love to teach! I think I have taught someone or something my whole life! At the wise age of 4, I comforted my frantic mother by saying, “Don’t worry, Mom! I “teached” him good!” This, after my brother, not quite 2 yrs old, appeared in the kitchen and had obviously left his crib on his own for the first time! A few years later, I discovered even more willing students! My stuffed animals! I arranged them in neat rows, teaching them my own schoolwork. It became the way I studied! What beautiful, imaginative play I had!
I grew up. I went to school and became a teacher. Math was my thing! My goal was to be contagious in my enthusiasm to my students! Why not? Unlike many of life’s problems, the math world had solid answers that could be found!
However, in 2010, I was plunged into a world that did not operate with the same certainty. I was the learner. This world felt impossible to understand. My family and I journeyed together on a path that often felt treacherous. My daughter was sick. Medications useless. Remission elusive. For her, life became drained of its joy. This is the relentless world of mental health disorders.
With over 60 million people in the United States on the same road, this journey is far from untraveled. Strangely, we felt quite alone. This was not the world of math. Firm solutions? Reliable answers? No, this is not what we found. How is a parent “ready” for such challenges?
I invite you to join me in The 12th Mile: When Hard becomes Harder Still. Humor, suffering, and darkness coexist with the Truth that God is always there. My story—our family’s story—traces our learning road. My testimony is that God will use anything to provide the care and help his kids need—even calling a mom to run for Him! I learned how to run a hard season that became harder still. I now know this as the 12th mile. We all face these things. It is HOW we run our 12th mile that is EVERYTHING! God’s lesson to me is to look up to him.
Let's Run Together
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About The 12th Mile
When life takes a hard turn and keeps getting harder, how do you keep going? In The 12th Mile: When Hard Becomes Harder Still, I share my personal journey of parenting a child through chronic mental illness while navigating an unexpected health struggle of my own. Through the surprising lens of running, I uncover the power of thoughts, the beauty in resilience, and the hard work of perseverance. I pray that I have communicated our family’s story with humor, honesty, and hope. May the road we have traveled encourage weary parents, caregivers, and anyone facing relentless challenges to take the next step, trust God’s timing, and find strength to endure their own “12th mile.”
