Ride On!

"...[B]ut those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar as with eagle's wings; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and never tire."
--Isaiah 40:31 

These words from the book of Isaiah would turn out to be prophetic for Chris and Stephanie--a young couple just starting out, their hope of a bright future before them. It would not be the first prophetic message they would receive.

At 33-years-old, Stephanie DuFour had resigned herself to being alone, unmarried, but perhaps a single mother. Content with her decision and her life, she looked into adopting a little girl -- until a chance meeting with a stranger at a party led her to reconsider her decision.

"I know you're thinking of doing other things in your life," the stranger told Stephanie, "but I need to tell you -- there is someone for you. Don't commit yourself to anything right now. Be patient. God is preparing you for him and He's preparing him for you. When you're ready, you will meet. And ... you will meet sooner than you think."

With these words, and little understanding why, Stephanie heeded the woman's advice and tabled her decision to adopt. Instead, she reluctantly gave in to a friend's urging to go on a blind date with Christopher Saulet--a 45-year-old Missouri State Highway Patrol officer, avid cyclist, and elite athlete.

For the next year, Chris courted Stephanie and the two fell in love, realizing that, indeed, they had, in one another, found each other's soul mate. It appeared that the two were well on their way to living a "happily ever after,"--until Chris received a phone call that would change both of their lives.

In 2005--16 months after he met Stephanie and less than a year before his wedding date, he called his fianc̩e and said, "Steph, I have cancer."

So began the longest, hardest race that the couple would have to endure.

During their journey, Stephanie and Chris never lost their faith in God. Both together and apart, they trusted Him and believed that He had a higher calling for their lives. Despite the many chemotherapy regiments, surgeries, and radiation, their hope for remission and survival--and through the pain--both Stephanie and Chris trusted in God, and kept riding on.

In this heartfelt memoir, Stephanie Saulet writes about her husband Chris, about her love for the man she met later in life, and his fight to beat cancer--at any cost.

Throughout the book, Stephanie encourages the reader to trust in God, to let "hope give you the strength to keep going ... [to] love each other through the race, so that you [the reader] can be victorious through Christ Jesus."

" ... [L]et us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us look to Jesus ... who will bring it to completion." --Hebrews 12:1, 2

Ride On!