TeenConnect: Your Healings
March 12, 2024
Trusting God with track season
During my sophomore year of high school, I joined the track team. I was excited to run with my friends and make progress on my speed throughout the season. I became really invested in my running and in trying to improve my times.
So when I started to experience shin splints, I was beyond disappointed. It was very difficult for me to focus on anything else. I wanted to have a successful season, which meant I needed to run harder at practice, but I also felt I wouldn’t succeed unless I took better care of my body. And it seemed that I couldn’t do both at once.
Feeling hopeless because things weren’t getting better, I knew I needed a change of mind-set. I’ve always found that prayer shifts my perspective, so I reached out to God for help. I also turned to the book Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures by Mary Baker Eddy, which helps me understand more about God and who I am as God’s child. In it, I found a statement that has meant a lot to me: “Mind’s infinite ideas run and disport themselves” (p. 514). This helped me because I know I’m one of Mind’s ideas, and this was telling me that it’s natural for me to run and enjoy myself without anything holding me back.
As we trained for districts, I had lots of jitters and stress about performing well.
As we trained for districts, I had lots of jitters and stress about performing well. I knew I needed to continue praying if I wanted to enjoy this time. I thought about a verse from the Bible that I’d heard many times: “They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). This reassured me, so I kept thinking about it, especially when I felt nervous. I knew all the stress I was feeling would dissolve once I put my trust in God. This meant replacing every stressful thought and every pain with a good thought from God and knowing His care for me.
As districts arrived, I felt so much more peaceful. I still wanted to do well, but I felt a burden lift from my shoulders when I realized that I could turn things over to God and would be supplied with everything I needed for the race.
The race itself was one of the best I’d ever run. Our team moved on to sectionals, and we ended up having an incredible finish to our season. During this time, I was healed of shin splints—the pain completely disappeared.
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to run on a track team and even more grateful for the healing that I experienced by turning to and trusting God.
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