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Hey beautiful ladies.
It’s testimony time! Today, as part of the Trust series, we’re sharing the third of four testimonies.
I want to introduce you girls to Laura. She’s vibrant and such an eccentric, beautiful woman of God. She’s bold in all that she does and yet so innocent in her being (Micah 6:8). Laura shares her extremely touching testimony today:
“It started with a dream. This dream was based on my own self-centredness of being an Olympian in an individual sport with the heart-desire to get noticed.
From a young age I was quite athletic and therefore started swimming. I immediately fell in love with the motions of swimming as a sport and also fell into addiction of exercise just as swiftly. My dad realized that my sport meant a lot to me. A fond memory I have, is an evening when my dad sat with me and we planned out my entire professional career as a swimmer. We even set life goals in order for the plan to become realistic. My addiction to swimming meant that I trained 8 times a week, leaving time for nothing else.
At the age of 16, God started working in my heart, moulding my heart to take on new dreams and a new direction.
At the age of 16, God started working in my heart, moulding my heart to take on new dreams and a new direction. This started when my sister gifted me a book about the conflict between the Palestinians and the Jews in the mid 1900’s. This book wrecked my life. My heart was broken and I felt angry at God. How could God allow all those people to suffer so badly; all the war to commence, the refugees to live in such bad conditions, the children to become soldiers, all the girls who had been raped? This all happened in an area with absolutely zero exposure to the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
My mind was still stone-set on my sport
One thing that made me furious, was knowing that I wasn’t helping in any of this. As a young girl I felt that even with good intentions, if I were to pitch in the Middle East, I would also become a victim. This burden was too much for me to carry, so I buried it.
The following year I was on the peak of my swimming career, competing both nationally and internationally. My mind was still stone-set on my sport, however I had to participate in community service in order to apply for university.
I enjoyed every second of the dirty but humbling work.
Voicing my uncertainty, a friend suggested that I should volunteer in a hospital, which I ended up doing. The experience was life-changing. It opened up my eyes to see God’s intentions and plans for my future. I was filled with compassion and empathy for the weak and broken. I wanted to assist the sick in every possible way. The 12-hour shifts flew by and I enjoyed every second of the dirty but humbling work.
In my mind however, I lied to myself, telling myself that the only reason I was participating in this was because I was doing it for the university application. I was driven with so much more passion than I wanted to admit to myself.
...it opened up his eyes to see what I was truly created for
A couple of months after I turned 17, my whole life and the plans I had made, changed. I fell extremely ill. Without being physically able to train, I was tormented with withdrawal symptoms as my idol (sport), was completely out of reach. This did however create large amounts of time to spend on my knees, seeking God's will in my season, as well as selfishly hoping to be healed.
During that season, my dad expressed his concern for me. He wasn’t worried about my health and performance but rather about my aspirations for life. He told me that he firmly believed I should completely drop my Olympic dream and pursue a career in nursing. He realized this would be the best options as he noticed how I spoke lovingly about my time in the hospital; it opened up his eyes to see what I was truly created for. Also knowing of my inner conflict regarding the book about the conflict in Palestine, he offered the wisdom that if I were to become a nurse, I would be equipped. Not only to relieve physical pain in war zones, but simultaneously minister to the very refugees that my heart broke for. I received a calling and a purpose that meant something to other people (with the outcome that could potentially alter lives, which sounded much better to me than a position on a podium).
The following Sunday, a missionary from Palestine visited the church I was attending and shared stories of fertile soil, acts of healing and the spread of the greatest story in existence: the Gospel. In order for God to show me what I was created to do, He had to distract me from idolization of sport.”
Laura was created for a time such as this (Esther 4:14)
It’s through her relationship of trusting God that she discovered what He has called her to be.
This testimony never cease to amaze me.
Lots of Love
Inge xx
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