“God, give me strength. Make the pain in my legs go away just for a little bit so I can run fast so I can help my team.”
My eleven year old son made this prayer before his last track meet. He’s in sixth grade and has been yoked with running the mile and half mile races for his team, his two least favorite events. He comes home every day with a heavy heart.
Recently, during a flag football practice he injured his foot and legs. The pain was bad enough to draw tears.
Before his last track meet I put him to bed and he was distraught. “My legs hurt, Dad, I’m not sure if I can run the race tomorrow.”
I told him he can play it safe and wait until he was closer to full capacity though it might hurt his team. But, if the pain was just pain, and he could push through it, wow, that would be awesome. Because, if he could run the two longest races while injured, he would know, deep in his heart and soul, that he had accomplished something, something no one could take away from him. If he could do that, there’s nothing he couldn’t do. “And,” I said, “Don’t forget you can pray for strength.”
I missed his two big races the next day, but I made it in time to see him get trounced in a relay. The loss did little to dampen his spirits.
“Dad, today before the race I was so nervous my stomach hurt. So, I went to the port-o-potty and prayed. I said, “God, give me strength. Make the pain in my legs go away just for a little bit so I can run fast so I can help my team.’ And you know what? He really did. My legs instantly felt better and I got my best mile time ever!”
In a life of consistently being proud of my son this was the greatest. He taught me the power of simple faith and prayer. He didn’t just pray for himself, he prayed to help his team.
Think about that for a moment.
God loves this stuff.
-Mike Sposito
Owner Spowerks LLC
Spowerks LLC 