anniversary of Abby Sunderland’s failure. The teenager was unable to
travel the world by boat in record time and beat her older brother’s
record as the youngest person to do so.
After Sunderland’s dreams were dashed
by high winds and 50-foot waves that caused her boat to capsize, she
wasn’t sure what the future would hold for her. But looking back at the
aftermath of her attempt, Sunderland says she now sees God’s hand at
work in her disappointment.
“My trip being wrecked has given me a
bigger platform than I would have had had everything gone according to
plan,” says Sunderland of her newfound fame. “I hope it makes people
think a little about God, and maybe there is something bigger out
there.”
Last June Sunderland was stranded by a
storm in the Indian Ocean nearly 2,000 miles east of Madagascar. For a
while the plucky girl lost contact with her parents and was feared lost.
She says many sailors have stories of pushing past their limits and
coming to a place where they had to call on God, which happened several
times for her: “God came through for me in such an amazing way that my
faith is definitely stronger than when I left in February 2010.”
A homeschool student who recently
completed high school, Sunderland plans to take a year off for traveling
before going to college to study psychology. She’s also likely to do
more speaking about her faith and her adventures as told in her book, Unsinkable.
