Game-Changing Moments

God desires for us to draw strength from the teaching of and meditation on His Word, and we can be strengthened by reflecting on His past work in our lives.   2nd Thessalonians 2 says:
15Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.16Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace,17comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work.
Our lives can reflect the work of God in our lives, and become the product of His hand working in and around us, as well as decisions that we have made that were either consistent with His will or that ended up being, well, not beneficial.  In those times of trial and circumstances that could have shaken our faith, we can look back and see His faithfulness.   Life is full of lessons, and along the way, we can be confident that He will walk beside us, and as we abide in Him, we learn more about recognizing His hand and discerning His direction.   And, there will be those "game-changing" moments upon which we reflect and through which we can draw strength.
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Our lives are full of those moments - decisions along our path, defining moments in which we encounter God in a powerful way, experiences about which we can look back and see how God was working, or those times when we see that we made a mistake, but we were able to correct the course and get back on track. The apostle Paul looked back on some of His experiences in 2nd Corinthians 4:4But in all things we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience, in tribulations, in needs, in distresses,5in stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in fastings;6by purity, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Spirit, by sincere love,7by the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,

There's plenty of enthusiasm about American hockey at the Sochi Olympics, with the U.S. men's team and their thrilling victory over the Russians over the weekend and the women's team making the gold medal game on Thursday, with a 6-1 victory over Sweden yesterday.

One of those players to watch on the American women's team is Anne Schleper, who plays defenseman for the team from the U.S.A., which squares off against Canada on Thursday.   After the win on Tuesday, she was quoted by Baptist Press as saying, when talking about the pressure of playing in the big game, "...it's not about that...It's all about my Audience of One and playing only for God."   Anne is from Minnesota and played for the Golden Gophers hockey team - she stayed at home to play hockey and her role on the team is to essentially "stay at home".

The report says that she learned how to do that at an Athletes in Action training camp that "absolutely changed [her] life." She was raised in church but had missed out on having a personal, daily time with Him. The Holy Spirit moving through the athletes at the camp helped her put it all together.

"That was kind of my game-changing moment," Schleper said. "That's when I really got to know the Lord. I developed that personal relationship with Him which I was missing all along growing up.

Christianity Today states that Schleper now leads a Bible study at Team USA training camps.  She is quoted from the Athletes in Action website as saying, "Any time you get in the athletic environment, it's challenging as a Christian. It's easy to have an 'it's about me' attitude...That's why it's important to be around other Christians who can lift you up and pray for you. It's good to stay connected, and that's where I've seen those Bible studies at camps be so huge. God is opening the eyes of teammates who I would never have thought would come. He's building it into something bigger and better."

So what can we take away from this dedicated Olympian who is playing for the Lord?   Well, for one thing, I began to think about the phrase, "game-changing moment".   I think in our lives, there are moments or experiences that alter the course of our lives - for good or not.   Certainly, the moment that we make Jesus the Lord of our life would be a tremendous one, upon which we can look back and thank the Lord for salvation - this can even bring hope to us when we are discouraged in our walk.   There are other times in our lives where decisions are made or God shows up in a tangible way that can be great mile-markers along our spiritual journey.  And, there may be mistakes that we can look back upon and gain valuable insight as we contemplate how we should have acted or responded.   So, life has its game-changing moments that can continue to teach us and encourage us.

I think also, Anne's attitude can be refreshing and challenging.   We are all prone to lose sight of Who we are living our lives for.  Our connection to Christ and our acknowledgement of His presence daily can be of great value to us as we remind ourselves that we are to glorify Him in all that we say, think, or do.   We can become so caught up in our schedules, our work, our personal agenda, the trends of life, and not be sensitive to the Holy Spirit as He desires to have our way.   So, we have to find ways to remain connected, with an overarching awareness that we are called to bring honor to Him.   He is our Audience of One and the focal point of our lives - to Him be the glory!   We can draw strength by reflecting on those game-changing moments from time to time.