It's Not the Medal -- It's the Win Even When You Lose

 

You may have read my blog several weeks ago about a loving-God- and-people young woman who attends our church, serves God with her whole heart, is an olympian diver and fully devoted to her sport. She has been a springboard diver for over 15 years and never did she have an accident.

That is -- until the 2024 Paris Olympics. We, and thousands of others, were/are her fans. I'll let our dear friend and leader of our Lamplighters class, Zack Dawes, explain to you what happened to Alison Gibson at the Olympics last week. He wrote us all his thoughts:

"Our friend, fellow believer, world class athlete, and two-time olympian began her quest for a medal this morning (August 7th) with a difficult two and a half reverse somersault on her first dive.

Unfortunately, her feet clipped the diving board, resulting in an awkward fall into the pool. This would rattle anyone - especially someone who has trained so long and hard.

After composing herself and despite bruises and cuts, Alison did what only someone with the heart of a champion would do - she chose to keep going. She dove, and dove, and dove - every single remaining dive, knowing she had no chance to win a medal.

Along with you, I hurt for Alison. This had to be one of the most difficult and disappointing days of her life. She is someone with the rare combination of enormous talent, faith, humility, and concern for others.

In fact, she has used the Olympic experience not just for herself, but to build and raise support for children in Kenya through Missions of Hope International. And her response when interviewed following the disappointment of the diving prelims is above and beyond:

"'But the one thing that I say is I hope that anyone who is watching just was able to see what it looks like to get up and keep going even when things don't go the way you want them to."' She says this with conviction and the power of Jesus Christ.

We can each be grateful for Alison and her awesome parents Dave and Pat, as well as their son Grant. And I cannot wait to see what God has in store for Alison and the Gibson family.

God only chooses someone with a tremendous heart to carry out tremendous tasks in life. Alison will not bring home a gold medal this time, but she will return home with the heart of a champion. She is the best of the best."

And, I add to Zack's words with Alison's words: “Our worth is not defined by one painful moment,” she said in the caption of her Instagram post: “I am who I am because of the journey it took to get here. And I will not let the shame and pain of this moment define me and my worth.”

Alison said that while it might seem like her dive was “an embarrassing failure” to those on the outside, she saw it as anything but, and hoped that her perseverance would inspire others to keep going “even when you fall short.”

Isn't that a relief to know that we, too, are not defined by or losses or wins but by our true grit and determination to NEVER QUIT?

Jeremiah 29:11 "Oh the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future!"