I can do hard things....

This week has been an exciting, but nervous week for Katie in basketball.  On Monday her coach came up to her and asked her to come to Tuesday's practice.  She normally only practices two days a week while the A/B team practices 4 days a week (she is on the C team).  So on Tuesday she shows up for practice, only to be told that for Wednesday nights game, she will be playing on the A team!

"What?"

"Seriously?"

"Why?  Why not just pull a B team player up to the A team for the game?"

Those were the words I said when I picked her up from practice on Tuesday night.  She was baffled as well, and incredibly nervous.  She spent the practice on Tuesday learning their plays.  Come Wednesday as she left for school, I said "nervous?"  She nodded her head "yup."  Poor girl.  To be on the C team, pushed onto the A team for one game .... and this is her VERY FIRST SEASON EVER TO PLAY BASKETBALL?!!  Amazing.

I was afraid. I knew how good basketball players play.  They play rough.  They can be mean.  They shove, and hit you in the stomach.  They trip you. Then they help you up when you fall down.  So, I was very nervous for Katie.  She does have a big dance performance coming up in two weeks.... I was anticipating something horrendous happening to her.

Mike made it to this game, since the A team plays at a later time.  Katie said "they have to play me for 2 minutes.... they have to let everyone have a chance."  So I was thinking "she'll just be in for a few minutes."  WRONG!  She was in the game for a good portion of it! 

Sure, she looked like she was confused and lost.  But, I was in awe of all the girls on the team helping her out, telling her where to go, what to do, who to guard.  When she was REALLY confused, the coach pulled her out, and her own coach (of the C team) sat her down and explained what some of the terminology was (Rover?), and give her pointers.  So after that, she was ready to go back in.  Finally, some of the fire I was used to seeing in Katie was slowly coming out.
 
She went back in, and managed to steal a few balls. Three in fact.  I think she surprised herself. 
When it was all said and done, I thought about how sometimes we're thrown into situations where literally, it is out of our comfort zone.  Being on a team full of girls who have been playing for years, some on club ball ..... and here comes a girl who has only been playing for a few weeks?  I was proud of Katie.  She had a "I can do hard things" moment.

I can do hard things.

Yes, we can do hard things.  When we do hard things, it enables us to grow and we learn.  We learn about ourselves, the limits we can go and perhaps push, the boundaries we can touch.  God already knows what we can do -- He knows more about us than we know about ourselves.  Can you imagine what our Heavenly Father thinks of us, especially when we're forced into the spotlight, out of our comfort zone?  I imagine He's thinking "I knew you could do it!"  Sure, Katie could have told the coach "thanks... but no thanks!"  That's her choice.  But, I think deep down inside, it never occured to her she could turn it down.  She took the challenge, and she learned a lot more about herself than she knew before.  

The next day at school, they announced over the intercom "a great big thank you to Katie _______ for helping out the A team at the basketball game last night!  She did a GREAT job!"  She said she was embarrassed, mortified, but yet proud at the same time.


But this momma?  This momma was super proud of her daughter, for her daughter taught her a great lesson.