Faith IN The Word: Laura Wilkinson

On September 24 2000, Laura Wilkinson achieved what had looked to be Impossible:she won the coveted gold medal on her high dive in Olympics in Sydney,Australia. And she did it with a broken foot.

Laura broke three bones in her foot during a routine dry land training session only twelve weeks before the team trials.

She thought her Olympic goals were crushed as well,but before she knew it she was in Sydney as a member of the U.S. Olympic diving team.With her foot in a cast,Laura couldn’t train in the pool. Instead,her coach critiqued her as stood on the diving board,made arm motions,and went through the dives in head.she now sees that as a blessing in disguise.

“When I broke my foot,I lost my focus. I wanted to be back in the water. ‘But pretend diving’ helped me remember how much I loved what I did.” Laura,her doctor, and her coach together designed a special shoe for her to wear when climbing the high-dive ladder. Before every dive and practice,Laura recited her favorite bible verse, ”I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me”(Philippians 4:13) this verse had been her theme through her growing-up years.in eighth grade she had even “lived” in a shirt with that verse printed on it.

In the final rounds of Olympic competition Laura rose from eight Place. In the fourth round,she suddenly faced overwhelming fear! Her coach said to her,Laura,do this dive for Hillary, a close friend who had been killed in a car accident. Laura took the focus off herself and decided; “This is for God” . This is for all my friends. Suddenly it wasn’t so scary anymore. She limped in pain to top of the ladder, where she took off her “handicapped” shoe and threw it down to her coach.She balanced on the ball of her broken foot,prayed her silent prayer,then jumped and completed the dive that won the first U.S. goal metal in over thirty years in the ten-meter platform dive in women’s Olympic competitions. Her first words to a reporter after she won were the words from Philippians that had kept her so focused: “I can do all things with Christ who strengthens me”.

Laura experienced faith plus focus plus follow-through equals a dream realized. 
Years ago I penned what I call the possibility thinker’s creed. It sums up how I interpret the word focus.

When faced with a mountain

I will not quit!

I will keep on striving

Until I climb over,

Find a pass through,

Tunnel underneath,

Or simply stay and

Turn the mountain into a gold mine.

With God’s help!

(DON’T THROW AWAY TOMORROW BY ROBERT SCHULLER)

Nothing is impossible to him that believes. Roll to your dreams, crawl, limp, walk, sprint and if you can fly, spread your wings and soar. Just make sure you are always moving. What's your life scripture, your memory verse? Find one today and believe in it more than ever, this is your season!!