Gabby Douglas Claims Gold, Then Thanks God

Colossians 3:17 (New International Version)

And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

American Olympic gold medal winning gymnast Gabby Douglas has praised God following her amazing win in the Women's Gymnastics All-Around event in London on Thursday.

A score of 62.232 was enough to give Douglas victory and hold off tough competition from her Russian competitors.

Gabby's victory in the Women's Gymnastics All-Around, leaves her mark in U.S. Olympic history.

Following her emotional win the 16-year-old gave an interview with NBC and celebrated the moment by praising God and offering her thanks for an amazing blessing.

"It is everything I thought it would be; being the Olympic champion, it definitely is an amazing feeling.

 And I give all the glory to God. It's kind of a win-win situation. The glory goes up to him and the blessings fall down on me," Douglas testified in the interview.

Later she also took to social networking site Twitter to continue her praise. She tweeted: "Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things He does for me."

Gabby also stated on her Twitter account that she loves "my family, dogs & most importantly God :)"

Gabby, a Virginia native, earned her spot on the U.S. Women's Gymnastics team after she defied expectations at the American Cup in March. She initially only competed in the cup as an alternate, but she outscored the favorite in the U.S. Gymnastic team, Jordyn Wieber.

In London earlier this week she also beat out Wieber again to gain the qualifying spot for the All-Around final, where she went on to defeat Viktoria Komova of Russia for the gold medal. Through all of her journey she has given God the glory.

We may not win a gold medal and have millions of people watching us as we give God the glory. As we read in today’s verse, whatever you do give God the thanks. There are always those around us watching and listening, let today be the day they hear you give the credit to God.

Dear Lord we thank You for the strengths that you have given to each of us. As we use those strengths and accomplish the things before us help us to remember to give you the praise. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Gymnastics and Pressing On.

Philippians 3:12-15 (New International Version)

12 Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. 13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.15 All of us, then, who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.

Sunday Night as we watched the ladies gymnastics I couldn’t help but admire the gymnasts for their courage and determination.   

As we watched I could see great desire and motivation from each of the young ladies as they performed.  As they each did flips, twirls and landings I wondered about when they were just beginning, was there a temptation for them to feel overwhelmed at the challenge. Because they weren’t experienced and their muscles hadn't been used or strengthened yet.

Were there times when they became discouraged and want to just give up?  Did they compare themselves with the other gymnasts and feel inferior. That is where the coaches and trainers came in. To help each of them to realize that each have different strengths and talents and could benefit by learning together.

This is also true as it relates to our spiritual life.  When we come to meet someone who has had years of experience and practice, we admire the flow of grace and ease they possess. When they pray, it is power packed full of faith and the words flow like a river. It creates a hunger and a desire in us. We want that in our lives so much. But how often do we get frustrated when our prayers are choppy and the words are slow and few. How often we are tempted to give up and think we can’t do it.

We need to realize that we are at our own personal level of growth. We do need to be challenged and motivated to press on. We need to practice and exercise our muscles of faith to strengthen ourselves in these areas. We are not in a contest. We need to stop condemning ourselves for not being at the place we want to be at yet, and stop feeling as if others are judging us; this is a form of pride. We need to humbly admit that there are things we haven't yet learned and need help with.

How many of us have been held back from our full potential because of someone who put this fear in our hearts. We all long for something more, we know there is a call in our hearts to move onward and upward. We have been taught to deny our hearts desire and settle for doing somersaults the rest of our life. How we long to gracefully glide with speed and precision, flipping and floating through the air with joy!

Dear Lord we thank You that You have a plan for each one of us. We pray that we would have the courage and determination to accomplish what You have for each of us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.