Who Are You Doing It For?

   Some of you may have heard that I decided to play soccer at Lancaster Bible College again this year. This will be my last season with the team, but that’s neither here nor there. The reason I am telling you this is because of something that happened to me over the years I have played soccer at LBC: I changed.

   In 2013 I began my soccer career at LBC. I was so nervous because the previous goalie was really good and I was starting that season cold turkey. I kept putting so much pressure on myself that I was beginning to have emotional issues. So a really good friend of mine, who I carpooled with, talked with me about what was going on. I told her I felt like anything I did wasn’t good enough because I didn’t do it like the previous goalie, I did one little thing wrong, or because no one was telling me what was right or wrong. She asked me a question that forever changed my life.

   “Who are you doing it for?” she said. I didn’t quite understand her at first so she then said: “who are you playing soccer for?” I kind of had to think about that because I was doing it for a lot of reasons. But, if you know my soccer story, you know it was a rough journey in order for me to decide if I was going to play soccer or not. In the end, I ultimately played because I felt that God was calling me to play. My friend knew the story and said “you decided to play soccer because God called you to. So when you feel like you are not good enough remember that you are always good enough for God.”

   I can’t say I didn’t feel the pressure to do well for my team and others during the season. Or, that I didn’t stress over every little thing that I did wrong. But, that conversation helped me remember that everything I do is ultimately for God. Yeah I will mess up, a lot. But, God doesn’t care. He loves me just the way I am.

   Today in the goal I am a lot more confident in myself. I do mess up, but I think about my mistake for five seconds then let it go. I can’t go back and change what I did; but I can go forward and do better then. And I remember that “If our (my) God is for us (me), then who could ever stop us (me)?” (Our God, Chris Tomlin)

   So, when you do things who are you doing them for? Are you putting too much pressure on yourself? Do you sometimes forget that God loves you just as you are?

   Colossians 3:23, Romans 8:31, 1 Corinthians 10:31