CHOSEN
In elite sport your success on the team is determined by whether you will be selected or not. Selection pressure is ever present, roster appearances and tournament teams ever on the horizon. Athletes work every day so that they will be the ones selected for the next thing. Fear begins to creep in, holding weight in the heart and mind, asking questions like did I do enough to be selected? Comparison wants to steal our joy, making us question whether we are better than the teammate next to us? All the while chasing the dream to play the sport we love on the world's biggest stages. Selection has me pondering what it’s like to be chosen. In 2023, I was chosen as a reserve for the Pan Am Games, in 2024 I was chosen for the Paris Olympic Roster, in 2025 I was not chosen for the Pan Am Cup. Throughout my career, I found my way on and off rosters, partially chosen, chosen, and not chosen.
Now that I am on the other side of selection, as a retired athlete, I’ve begun to reflect and realize that I’ve been chosen all along. I rest fully in knowing that God says I am His chosen daughter in Christ Jesus. He chose me before the foundation of the world. He chose me by His grace to the purpose of his will, this day and forevermore. He chose me not by any work I have done to be enough for Him, but by His LOVE for me. I am thankful unto the Father that I am his CHOSEN daughter, whom he loves and died to save. Even now, as I enter into a new phase of life, with new beginnings, I know the truth that sets me free from fear and comparison in a world that operates on being worthy enough to be chosen.
During my career, I went repeatedly back to God’s word, specifically, Hebrews 12:1-2, it says, “Therefore since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” And Ephesians 1:3-6, which reads, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he blessed us in the Beloved.”
So, if you ever have felt the pressure of selection as an athlete, or the stress of getting selected for a job, or a new role, or even in feeling worthy of a relationship, my encouragement to you is rest in knowing that Jesus chose YOU before the foundation of the world to be in relationship with Him. You are the joy that was set before him when he endured the cross.
Reflection Question: Ask God, “who do you say I am?”
Scripture to meditate on: Hebrews 12 :1-2 and Ephesians 1: 3-6
