Under pressure? Pray!

By Sara Hoagland Hunter

They'd been told they would need a miracle to win even one victory. But here were Abby and her teammates, on the last day of the select invitational soccer tournament, in double overtime against the top-seeded team.

It had all come down to a shootout. Five players from each team lined up to take their turns shooting the ball at the net. Abby waited for her turn. She would be the last girl to kick. Her other teammates were yelling and shouting at each shot and miss.

Abby realized that to be able to kick at all, she needed to quiet her thoughts. But she knew that she didn't have to leave the field or shush people before she could get quiet. She'd found out that even in the middle of all the noise and excitement, she could get quiet if she prayed.

First, she thought about a verse in a poem that always made her feel peaceful. The words are from a poem by Mary Baker Eddy, called "Mother's Evening Prayer":

O gentle presence, peace and joy and
power;
O Life divine, that owns each
waiting hour,
Thou Love that guards the nestling's
faltering flight!
Keep Thou my child on upward
wing tonight.

(Christian Science Hymnal, No. 207)

Abby was so busy praying that she didn't feel tense. Her next prayer was one of her favorites, a simple one called the "Daily Prayer": " 'Thy kingdom come;' let the reign of divine Truth, Life, and Love be established in me, and rule out of me all sin; and may Thy Word enrich the affections of all mankind, and govern them!' (Mary Baker Eddy, Manual of The Mother Church, p. 41).

As she stepped up to kick, Abby felt calm. She kicked the ball right into the top left corner of the net. Her friends and teammates broke out into cheering and screaming. They raced onto the field, shouting and hugging each other. It wasn't until then that she realized she'd broken a tie to win the game. Abby said later she never thought about the whole game depending on her kick. She was just praying to reflect God.

Later the same week Abby prayed in this new way that she had learned at the game to help her study for final exams. Each time she started feeling afraid or overwhelmed, she thought about what had happened on the soccer field. There, when she'd been under a lot of pressure, she'd quieted her thoughts by praying. She could do the same thing when she had to take a grammar or math exam. And she did!

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