Written by: Levi Jones

The way I would describe my first year as an athlete at Lipscomb is being stressful. Being patient for God's timing has been the biggest lesson God has taught me. I have learned that God's timing is not my timing. Coming from high school soccer, I have always been a leader on the team and I have always gotten minutes. I was at the center of the team. Everyone knew me and my brother Malachi. I knew heading into college would be hard to get minutes. I knew I would have to work really hard to even get a few minutes, knowing how good the team was. That has been one of the ways God has taught me my timing may not be His timing. 
 
I would also say in high school my faith with the Lord Jesus Christ was good and it was beginning to increase because my parents were preparing me for the college life. I would say my life with Christ was becoming more of my own than my parents leading to me getting baptized at the age of 17. 
 
Going into college I thought I was very prepared of what lied ahead of me soccer wise and faith wise. As I started my first year of college, I soon realized that college is going to be more different than I thought and I was not going to have all my brothers who I have grown to be around all the time. I was not going to be seeing my parents as much, and lastly I was not going to be with my friends from high school all the time. These people were my accountability partners. The first week I was able to make some new friends but I didn't know they were going to be friends that will help me in my faith walk. I didn't know if they would be friends that would stand by my side when life was tough. By God's grace they were the friends that I was looking for. 
 
My first week of soccer training I struggled with the drills and that got my mind spinning. The next thing I knew I was doubting my ability to be able to play. I would find myself calling my mom and my brothers telling them I don't know why I was here. As the season went on, I started doubting God a little and questioned why I couldn't understand the drills and why He was letting my brother Malachi get more minutes than me. I started talking to more people because I knew I needed help. I called my high school coach and we talked through things. That helped a little, but I still wasn't satisfied with the way I was playing in training. So I took it another step and called two of my favorite teachers in high school that I was close to. I talked to them about how I was doing and how I have made soccer a priority over everything. I had forgotten why I play the sport and who gave me the ability to play it. So I was able to listen to their wisdom and I started reading more of the Bible and praying before and after training. I started reminding myself that soccer is a way for us to show others our talent that God has given us. And to this I began to play like I know I can. The game of soccer began to be more fun and I was more joyful around the team.