Team Jesus

it is sixth grade year with my two best friends. 

It is time to begin try outs for the junior high team if you are interested in cheering your seventh-grade year. Both best friends were very passionate about cheer and knew they would be trying out. But we are best friends—we stick together. If they were trying out, that only means I have to as well. 

The week of try-outs come, when I am faced with a raw truth… I am, like, really bad at this. Those cute stunts you see on Friday nights... yeah, they make it look way too easy. But I don’t give up, because I am not a quitter…and the try out clinic, physical, and fees were expensive but whatever. Try-out night comes and I am still hopeful that MAYBE—just maybe they will feel bad for me and put me on the team anyways. (LOLOL) That little white envelop is handed to me with a letter of rejection inside. With tears in my eyes, I am calling friends to see if they were given the same unfortunate news as me. I’m greeted with squeals of excitement. Yep! It was just me. 

Well, that hurts. 

Year after year, I continued to try out, making improvements each year. I don’t know why it didn’t click the first time that cheerleading was my forte. Year after year, the same white envelop was handed to me. 

Those two best friends were talented in the area of cheer. And I strived for so long to make myself fit their mold—their calling. 

But that is the simple truth, it was not MY calling. 

Psalm 37:4 says “Take delight in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart”. What is so cool about God is that He doesn’t always give you WHAT (the thing) you want but He gives you your want. 

I didn’t know then that I was so desperately trying to find myself through those junior high years. It was my desire to find something I was passionate about and spend my time bettering myself in this particular area of my life. God certainly gave me the “want”, but it didn’t come in the form I was thinking it would. 

It wasn’t until my 9^thgrade year that I discovered my passion. It is not something I would need to spend time in the gym to build muscle mass or work hours at practice with my team preparing for Friday nights on the sidelines. I, finally, learned that it was something I would spend hours on my face pursuing the heart of God—it was something that I didn’t have to strive for. Because even when I slipped up, or felt unworthy, I still had a spot on the team. The best part, my coach created me and the entire universe (how cool). 

Psalm 19:21, “Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the Lord that will stand.”

My mother always prayed, “Lord please don’t allow Brooke to be a part of the cheerleading team if it would change her or cause her relationship with the father to deteriorate.” 

It is my fervent prayer that, every day, we will surrender our agendas over to the lord. When things don’t go our way, the truth is, we were probably dodging a few bullets. 

And the Big Guy that hung the stars in the sky, desires for you to be a part of His team. 

You are loved and prayed for, my friend

-Brooke

*the friends mentioned above are both still precious friends of mine that both pursue Jesus as well*