In 2022, my wife Judy, who suffers from Complex Regional Pain Syndrome (CRPS), carefully trained for and ran a half marathon to help raise support for GNIM.   She ran the course with our four children and 2 other friends and was doing well until the final kilometre.  Extreme pain set in on a downhill section and just about took her out of the run.  She managed to finish on her feet with her son Jon and daughter Amber propping her up. Amber made a video of this run that you can access here:  MIRACLE 21. Her goals were met, including raising over $21,000 to help keep kids safe through our ministries in Thailand and Myanmar.  But something new was happening, the unrelenting pain of CRPS was now in her legs.

Judy has suffered much since then. She’s been advised (following x-rays and and MRI) that she needed hip surgery, only later to be strongly warned by her orthopaedic surgeon not to go the surgical route (due to CRPS).  She’s had much prayer and even periods of healing in answer to prayer since then.  However, the pain is never far away.  Most evenings she massages her legs to help manage the fiery pain in nerves.  

In the fall of 2023 we moved to Saskatchewan with Judy’s mom, who was in need of full care and found a good care home there.  The stress of the move weighed heavily on Judy and in the months that followed the pain only seemed to be getting worse. This was complicated by a serious bout of pneumonia in the fall 2024 while we were ministering in Thailand.   But, even so, Judy wants to help.

This spring, for her birthday, she asked God for a special present.  She asked if the Lord would let her run a triathlon, train 25 weeks for it (under medical supervision) and raise $25,000 to help keep our kids in Myanmar in refuge.  That’s a BIG ask!  Even so, Judy has faith in our God who is much bigger than this.  

We also made this a fun event for the whole family to participate in (see poster below).  Now that the event is done and the funds were raised, we want to thank God for all of you who donated and/or participated in this event.

Rob Griffioen, President of GNI Ministries