Praising God through Pain

As I approached the third hurdle, I knew I was a little too far away to take it with my right leg. So, in a split second, I decided to alternate and go over with my left foot leading. I had done this a thousand times in my career, but this time when I landed, I felt my knee shift out of the socket. I had hyperextended my knee, and I knew my running days were over. 

Surrounded by my teammates, I had a choice. My team knew me as a Christian who had led them in Bible studies, and now they waited expectantly to see what would proceed out of my mouth. From sheer pain, I screamed, “Hallelujah!”

The apostle Paul writes that as believers, we must be a living testimony — an open book for the world to see the glorious gospel of Christ. Sometimes this is painful. It could be physically or even psychologically painful.

Although I would later need to have my left leg amputated, there was a greater outcome than I could have anticipated: Two people gave their lives to Christ as a result of seeing the way that I reacted to the situation. As Paul said, it was not I but Christ who lives inside who won the victory that day (Galatians 2:20).