Wrestling, Fear, and Faith - An Experience with the Read it Pray it Card
I'm so excited to share with you an experience we had with fear and he conquered it with the Word of God and the Read it Pray it Cards. I created these cards for my children and me to memorize scripture and pray bedtime prayers, but we are using them for more than that.
My son loves sports! He has played every sport our town rec club has to offer. This year he narrowed it down to his favorites: soccer, wrestling, and baseball.
My son wrestles in the winter. Last year he practiced with the program, but never actually competed. This year he made the varsity team because they needed lightweights to wrestle with the big boys. He was so excited when the season started but soon became discouraged. His teammates and coaches were great. However, he was getting his butt kicked at matches. Match after match my son fought back the tears as the ref raised the hand of the winner
I am not a newbie to wrestling; I worked with it for ten years. I know it is not for the faint of heart. It's one on one competition, you and your opponent. There's no team to back you up or make up for your mistakes or lack of skill. To see my son struggle emotionally was hard.
I spoke to his coach; we decided that it would be a good idea for my little man to wrestles some JV matches so he could get some wins under his belt. It was a brilliant idea. Unfortunately, even after a few victories, he started to lose his nerve.
Then it happened. At a local tournament, my little man refused to wrestle. He became nasty and rude and said he wanted to go home. I didn't understand what was going on at first; he is winning matches, why was he so upset? Once we got in the car, the tears started to flow. He was scared to lose, worried he was going to cry in front of everyone if he did. FEAR
I asked him, “Where does fear come from, God?”
“No mommy.”
God didn’t give us a spirit that makes us weak and fearful. He gave us a spirit that gives us power and love. It helps us control ourselves . 2 Timothy 1:7 (NIrV)
I got fired up! I told him he didn’t have to put up with fear. Yes, it was going to come, but he had to decide what to do with it when it did. Was he going to let it keep him from doing what he loves?
I reminded him the best way to tackle fear was to know the Word of God and speak it when he feels scared.
Immediately he remembered his scriptures cards. The provided him easy access to exactly what God says about fear. When we got home he found his cards, took out the four on fear, and read the verses and prayed the prayers. Then he surprised me. He grabbed a piece of paper and wrote each of the prayers out as one big prayer, and inserted the word wrestling where it fit.
I knew that that's what these prayers are for but I was beyond thrilled to see my 8-year old put them into action.
Every night that week he prayed the Word of God. The following weekend he wrestled two matches without hesitation. He even brought the prayers to the tournament just in case he needed to take some time to himself to pray.
The rest of the season still had its bumps. They were times he didn’t want to wrestle but he never walked away from an event without competing like he did earlier in the season.
There will be many others times when he will come up against a situation that he will not be able to face in his strength or wisdom. I am so grateful that he has experienced applying the Word of God to his circumstance.
Want to get a set of the Read it Pray it cards?
Check out my Etsy shop HERE. It includes digital downloads as well as professionally printed cards.