The ease of playing sports.

My life has changed dramatically in the last couple weeks. First of all my sister, Jaclyn, got her mission call for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to Guatemala, Guatemala City Central mission as a Nurse Specialist, she reports on September 12. She has been such an amazing example to me, I so excited for her to go to her dream mission for 18 months, I will miss her dearly but I know that the people of Guatemala are going to be so blessed by her presence, love, and testimony.

Second thing, I tore my ACL on last Saturday. I was playing flag football and I was the quarterback. The other team was basically the women's track team, we only had five people and they had seven or eight which means that many more fast girls… so they we rushing me hard core. I was able to get away every time except this one.... I was running to the right and planted my foot to juke them out and go the other way but my leg buckled and I heard the pop and that was it. The second it happened I knew what it was and I just laid face down on the ground and pounded it with my fist just saying no, no, no over and over.

I’ll be out from sports for 6 months which is really going to be hard. Sports are how I exercise, relax and socialize. It’s just a big part of who I am! I’ve been playing since I was little. They just make me feel like I’m actually good at something and worth something. But I think the biggest thing reason that I love sports because it is easy for me to hear people. Everyone is yelling in the heat of the game. The court or field are the few couple places its ok for me to use my louder voice, I can hear my teammates and opponents and I can yell back, it’s so much fun! Also I feel confident in my abilities, I feel like a leader on the court unlike I do in a circle of friends, struggling to keep up with the heat of the conversation. Sports are an easy outlet for me, feeling like I am being social with a big group of people but avoiding the battle of straining to keep up.

Now that I can’t play sports for a while, it is going to force me to find other ways to be social, and a way to strengthen my conversational skills. Not only that, it’ll help me, and others realize that sports do not define me. There are other qualities that few people may know and see because I cloud them over with my too frequent participation in sports. I’ve taken the easy road of socializing through sports but now I physically am restricted from them all, and it will force me to overcome my fear of failure in big social situations and make my weakness, a strength; a strength that can hopefully be an inspiration and blessing to someone else.

If the Lord needed me to help someone through my athletic abilities, my ACL would not have been torn. I know I am being led, I just pray that I can learn what I need to learn, and serve who I need to serve while I experience this period of weakness and building up a new strength. I am confident in the Lord, His timing and His plan. The Lord won’t give us anything we can’t handle, even if it’s taking out our passion in life. I have a larger mission than making diving catches on the Frisbee field. I’m anxious and excited to see where this path leads me, it’s going to be hard, but that’s what is going to make the result so wonderful. Nothing is really worth it without the sacrifice, and nothing is sacrifice if it is not the passion that lights your life.