Testimony of faith. The path saved me.
I fell into a terrible burnout when my mobile slaughterhouse was placed in receivership. Used to working non-stop, from one day to the next there was nothing left. Everything collapsed. I told the employees that the recovery protected their wages. They accused me of lying. My brother threatened me with a “gunshot” if I didn’t return equipment from the family farm. I broke with the family. The ground gave way under my feet. Everything I thought was solid disappeared. I received an email from the liquidator. I read it. Reread it. I didn’t understand anything. My brain didn’t work anymore. I had dark thoughts, the desire to disappear from this nightmare. Only taking my dog out did me good. On February 21, 2023, my birthday, I decided to walk to Santiago de Compostela: the path was well marked, no need to think. The decision did me a world of good. The idea of leaving already carries me. The path releases a force that surpasses us, which we call “God” if we believe – as I do -, otherwise “life”.
This path took care of me, putting beautiful people on my path so that beautiful things could happen to me. I had experienced too many improbable coincidences in three months not to see something divine in it. Like Charles, another pilgrim from Canada. We decided to walk together with others. In Spain, there were only two of us left. We arrived on June 20 in Fisterra, where the path ended. We admired the sunset on the beach, on this longest day of the year. We said goodbye after fifty days of walking together, then… we hugged. It was not planned at all. He did not want to meet anyone while walking. Neither did I. I had problems and did not want more! In January, Charles returned to France to live with me. When we met, we had only exchanged a hello. But an inexplicable feeling had come over me. The one that I could trust him even though I was coming out of a period where life had shown me that I had been wrong when I had given him my trust.
The most beautiful miracle of the path was learning to forgive and love myself. When we left Puy-en-Velay (Haute-Loire), we could write down our intentions. I hadn’t written anything down; I didn’t have any. What I experienced was unexpected. The path saved me.