Michelle Carter

Shot Putter :: USA T&F

 

I never experienced life without Christ. At an early age I knew and believed what my parents taught me. I remember at age eight I could not [even imagine] that God was not real. I remember times as a child when I would be in my bed praying about a problem. I always knew that whatever was going on, I could pray and God would take care of it.

Life was pretty easy for me. The real test came when I went away to college, away from my structured life. I was faced with all the things that were going on around me that I was not accustomed to facing on my own. Enjoying my new-found freedom, I put my relationship with Christ on the “back burner.” That’s when I realized how hard life is when you are not close to Him. I knew that if I continued to stray away from Christ and not do what He wanted me to do, I wasn’t going to win in life. The older I get the more I realize the things that I was taught at an early age apply to my life now.

Last year was a hard year for me in my sport. I almost wanted to quit, and I started thinking about the pros and cons of continuing to throw. I was by far one of the weakest throwers, but I threw further than most. [Then I realized that] there has to be a reason why I was doing what I was doing with little effort. This has to be one of my gifts, a God-given talent.

I understand now that Christ [wants to] work through me so that others can get to know Him. If I wanted more people to get to know Christ, I had to work hard to exemplify His presence in my life. I started thinking about how this is not about me, it’s about Him; and by letting Him work through me I will be blessed and be a blessing.

I continue to pray constantly to make it day by day because it’s easy to get discouraged. [The Bible says] that greater is He who is in me than he [Satan] who is in the world. That’s how I know that no matter what comes my way, He is greater. Not me, but He that is in me. I have Christ in my heart, I already have the victory. Through Christ all things are possible.

 

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