"Another Difficult Year"

In 2008, Lauryn Williams traveled to Beijing to represent the United States on the track and field team during the Summer Olympics, her second appearance at the games. She competed in two races, the 100-meter sprint and the 4x100 relay.

After winning other competitions earlier in the year, she felt confident. However, in the 100, Lauryn finished fourth, the first runner not to win a medal. “I let nerves get the best of me,” she says. "There is no other real explanation in my mind.”

Setting aside her disappointment, Lauryn ran her next race, the 4x100 meter relay. Four years earlier during the 2004 games, the team had been disqualified when she and another runner had missed a handoff. This year, she and the team hoped for a better finish.

Once the race started, Lauryn watched her three teammates carry the baton around the track. When the moment came for her to run the final leg, Lauryn started, reaching her hand back, waiting to feel the baton in her palm.

Instead, she heard her teammate yell. She turned, saw the stick on the ground, and couldn’t believe what had happened. “Not again,” she thought. Refusing to give up, she picked up the baton and sprinted to the finish line in last place. Again, the team was disqualified.

Lauryn left the Olympics disappointed and without a medal. “I felt very alone,” she says. “In the midst of getting fourth place and not getting the baton around (the track), it was a very low point. That’s where I started to rethink things.”

At one of the most difficult moments of her life, Lauryn chose to reconsider her priorities. She even thought about retiring from running. God can use disappointments to cause us to re-evaluate our lives.

Question: What disappointments have you experienced? How have they caused you to rethink what you’re doing?

Prayer: Dear Jesus, sometimes I fail. Cause me to sense Your presence in the midst of my grief. Help me to trust You, even when I don’t understand. Lead me into the plans and dreams You have for my life.