Tag Archives: Kelly Clark

A little more about Kelly

Posted on by
Reply

Since I posted about Kelly Clark, US Olympic Snowboarder, the other day I’ve heard more of her story and have to pass it on.

I was encouraging a friend who emailed me this morning, a friend who tends to be hard on herself if she messes up or falls short on a goal.  As I typed a reply to her God really spoke to my heart, too.  I think everyone falls into the trap of equating personal worth with accomplishments or the things we are doing, so that if we fail to do something or mess up we feel less worthwhile, even downright worthless.

Like I posted before, Kelly Clark was doing the same thing and it wasn’t working.   After a competitor fell during a match, she overheard one of the other competitors tell her, “It’s okay, God still loves you.”  That stirred a hunger in Kelly to find out more.  Read this great article to find out the details of how God drew her to Him and filled her heart with His freeing love.

Our worth comes from the fact that God loves us and adopted us.  He wants you.  He gave everything anyone could give so that you could be His and be close to Him.  When you accept that gift of forgiveness and are willing to be adopted by Him, that alone gives you endless worth in His eyes.  “God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God.  Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done…”  Ephesians 2:8-9

Failing to do something you think you should, not doing something well, or messing up can never make God love you any less.   Performing 150%, working your tail off, and striving every day for excellence (while those can be good things) will never make God love you any more.  He LOVES you.  He loves.  He loves.  Just because of who You are in Him.

If the enemy is trying to pull a fast one on you by making you feel a failure, that you’re a disappointment, that you’re not good enough, or any other lies like that, be like Kelly and put your spiritual iPod on your heart to drown him out.  Listen only to Jesus’ loving voice and live in freedom today!  You can enjoy the moment you’re in right now knowing no matter what you do or don’t do, you are worth more than you know to God.

Day 4 – iListen

Posted on by
1

Kelly Clark, US snowboarder who won the bronze medal the other night in the half pipe, stood at the top waiting for her name to be called.  In the dark of Whistler mountain night time, the half pipe venue shone bright white.  It was Kelly’s turn for her second run, her last chance to do well enough to earn a medal in the 2010 Olympics.  I’d be so nervous.  There must be lots of pressure on the athletes as they listen to the crowd cheering, the announcer talking about them, see the bright lights and sea of faces and eyes watching their every move.  They’ve been training for years for this one moment in time.  Kelly didn’t really seem to be paying attention to any of that because she had her ipod turned on, her ear buds in her ears and she was singing.  It cracked me up!  She didn’t seem to care at all that the cameras were filming her.  She never looked up at them.  I don’t know what the song was but she looked straight ahead at the half pipe, singing loudly along as she waited for the go ahead.  It was especially funny to me because no one else could hear the music, all we could hear was her lone voice.  I did hear a few of the words she sang, “You.. shall.. love.. me”, as she took off down the hill and completed a fantastic run, seemingly confident and at ease.

If only I could be as focused on God’s voice in my ears and heart and not get distracted by the noise around me, or even worse, the voice of the enemy.  If only I could be as confident in myself because I had trained, I had worked hard, I had prepared, and I was ready for the task at hand….whatever it may be.  I love that Kelly sings before she performs. I love that she didn’t care to hear her name being blasted over the loud speakers or the crowds cheering for her.  The music helped her focus and get pumped up and that was good enough for her.  It didn’t matter that no one else could hear it.

Jesus said He’s the Good Shepherd and that his sheep know His voice.  I know His voice, but want to hear it so clearly it’s as if I have ear buds in my woolly sheep ears and nothing else fills my mind but the melodic, pure sound of His words and songs.  I don’t think there would be any flips or high flying twists, but I would follow Him closely with laser focus and sing.  If I do, I know I’ll finish well….just like Kelly.

Addendum:  Someone let me know the song that Kelly was listening to!  It’s beautiful – you can hear it below: