Sarah “SJ” Lim-Narvasa, CPT

It’s been three and a half years since I started playing pickleball.

I’ve been an athlete all my life, but none of the sports I previously competed in came close to the popularity and attention that pickleball has today.

With that popularity came experiences and challenges I had never encountered before. Competing is one thing, but pursuing a professional athletic career in the age of social media, public scrutiny, and the growing popularity of the sport is an entirely different challenge.

But throughout this journey, my prayer has always been the same:

“Lord, glorify Yourself in me and through me.”

These are some of my reflections on what it means to glorify God through pickleball, and how I am trying to live that out both on and off the court.

One thing I have come to understand is that winning is not synonymous with glorifying God. In fact, it is entirely possible to dishonor Him even in victory.

We can win medals, earn titles, and achieve everything we set out to accomplish, yet still fail to honor God in the way we conduct ourselves, treat others, and respond to the circumstances around us.

And I want to be clear: I am very much a work in progress.

Many of the things I’ve written about are things I still struggle with and continually need to work on. I fall short, I get frustrated, I become prideful, and sometimes I allow my selfish desires to get the better of me.

But I am learning that glorifying God is not something I can accomplish through my own strength or goodness. My sinful and selfish nature will always fall short. It requires daily surrender, prayer, and the transforming work of the Holy Spirit in me.

My prayer is not simply that God would help me become a better athlete, but that He would continue to make me more like Christ through the sport He has allowed me to play.

Because at the end of the day, I don’t just want to be remembered for how well I played. I want to have honored God in the way I played, the way I treated people, and the way I lived.

I still have so much to learn and so much growing to do.

Please continue to pray for me.

#pickleball #believer #ChristianAthlete