“God, please help me make it through this!” Tired and exhausted, I tried my best to keep up and hang in there, but I was feeling sick to my stomach.  This was the third day of a four-day hike on the Appalachian Trail (AT) in Franklin, North Carolina.  For twenty years I’d talked about hiking on the trail and had put it on my bucket list of things to do.  But, as a retired, 68-year-old teacher, I’d pushed this item farther down my list.  In fact, it might as well have dropped off. I hadn’t even discussed hiking the AT with my husband or daughter. My husband was busy…