Hello all!

I've never blogged before, and I am awful at starting things like papers, so I'm a little shaky on how to begin my first post...bear with me!

I guess I'll start off by explaining the title of my blog, which is very significant. Learning to Walk means several things really. Every day I am learning to walk in different ways: both spiritually and physically. And no, the irony of my last name being Walker is not lost on me either :)

I'm in my sophomore year at the most amazing university in the world! My major is Nutrition and I am so excited! I love food, and nutrition is a key part of every one's health, but mine especially. Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for someone like me and now I'll be knowledgeable about the subject and one day be able to help people like me do the same thing.

My entire life I've physically been different from everyone else, but it wasn't until the summer of 2003 that we had an answer as to why. And even now we only have half of the equation. I was diagnosed with Charcot-Marie Tooth, one of the hundreds of types of Muscular Dystrophy. The Sparknotes version of MD is that the muscles in my legs and feet are slowly wasting away, and eventually it will affect my hands...already has a little. Your muscles need protein to stay strong, but somewhere along the communication lines the information doesn't get there, so they never stay strong. Walking is a daily struggle for me, hence my blog name. This Christmas I had the first in a series of surgeries that reconstructed my foot, so I'll be able to walk and stand for more of my life than before :) Without this surgery and the one to follow in a couple months, not being able to walk or stand was in my near future....a scary thought. People respond to me in different ways; some I appreciate and some I don't. Some random passerbyers call me crippled, or make sarcastic comments about how I walk. Some friends get really awkward when they talk about physical activities or getting a group together doing something I can't do. But then there are my amazing friends who treat me just like anyone else, like there's nothing wrong with me. They ask questions to get more knowledge on my life and my condition (which is TOTALLY fine, I love answering questions. Ignorance is frustrating and I truly don't mind when people ask); but at the end of the day I'm the same as everyone else. I still have the same hopes and desires as everyone else, I just have to do things a little differently than everyone else.

I don't know how I would deal with any of this or get through the day without my faith. I know it sounds cliche, but for reals God is my strength always. It says in Psalm 73:26 "My heart and flesh may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." This is one of the many verses I hold close, because it's true for me. I literally can't put my faith in my body because it's failing me everyday....I HAVE to depend on God.

So that's what this blog is about. My daily struggles with MD, how my faith gets me through it, and spiritual questions I'm asking myself or just awesome things God is teaching me. I've toyed with the idea of writing a blog for some time, and I'm finally doing it. Maybe someone with MD will read it and not feel so alone, maybe someone will be facing the same situation or spiritual question I am. Maybe no one will read this and it will simply be a catharsis for me.