I Think I Saw God - My Faith Is Stronger

Yesterday I had my first soccer game of the season. I kinda expected to win, kinda didn't. Why? Well, in the past 2 years we've tied one game - ONE GAME. We haven't lost in that time (unless you count one of our tournament games, but that's not really part of our season). That's a lot of games we won! And we've won even more - I've been playing with this team for at least 3 years now. However, we have lost some games in the past, every now and then...ANYWAY, that's not the point. I know nobody really cares how good my soccer team is. Chances are you skipped this paragraph and went straight to the next one. But that's fine! :)

Okay, point is that we were playing a team who is well known for being aggressive, pushy, and mean. So I was really nervous. The game started, and for the first...10 minutes, maybe? we played the majority of the game on our side. We finally got the ball down onto their side of the field...and lost it. It happened again and again and again.

So, a side note: I've just started the book Sun Stand Still, another book I got off of God Girl. :) It's about how if you really believe in God he can make anything happen. I also know a bible verse that says the same thing:

James 1:5-8

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That man should not think he will recieve anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all he does.

So, I thought of the book and the verse, and decided to pray. I asked God to help us to score help us to do well...well, that was the gist of it. Honestly, I'm not sure what I prayed at all! Within the next two minutes, I had gotten off two shots and another one of my friends scored. I was amazed! And I realized that, for the first time, I had asked God to do something and I really believed he would do it. When I prayed, I felt sure he would help us.

I'm not sure why - if you pray for things like I did, like winning a game, he may not go through with it because it was for you selfish purposes. I admit it-I've prayed like this during countless volleyball games, and we continue to lose. And each time I pray, I know that he may not come through and we could still lose.

But when I prayed for the soccer game, it was like he told me he would help us win, because I was completely and entirely confident he would. I'm not sure what happened. I'm not sure if I could make it happen again - which really I didn't.

What really surprised me was when, as I kept sending up little prayers thanking him and asking him for help, I scored. I've made plenty of passes that have let other people score, but it's been at least a year since I scored a goal. It surprised me! And I'm not sure if the shot I took could have been made without God's help, because it was perfect. The perfect setup, the perfect location, the perfect height - everything was perfect. Just the way I think God wanted it to be. :) I'm not sure what will happen to my faith from here - I know it's stronger now than it was last week - but I think I can trust God a little more now.

I know I haven't been on for a while - school's been stressing me out - but I just wanted to share that with everyone. :) Maybe read Sun Stand Still.

XOX,

Reagan