Early years Joy
Laura Geisler has been around soccer her entire life. “I started playing soccer when I was young around 7 or 8 for SABR (recreational soccer). I enjoyed it, I was naturally talented at it and enjoyed the team aspect of it. Working together as a team and just playing soccer.” In this article we will see how just joy will change us.
From there Laura would continue her journey in soccer in middle school. She would play for Spanish River Christian School but did not want to participate in travel soccer. “I didn’t play travel soccer when I was younger because I didn’t want soccer to consume me or my family’s time. I didn’t want soccer to take over my life like I know other kids did.”
New School
Laura did not play her first year at Westminster Academy in high school. “I played my sophomore year at Westminster. I realized that I had more talent than I originally thought. I was really encouraged by my coach and I was able to score a lot of goals.”
Soon after Laura would homeschool and play for Boca Christian. “The coach took me from a forward to being a defender. I was surprised because I thought I could play my best as a forward. Then I started to enjoy the position of being sweeper and took it as my responsibility to not let anyone score.“
Brand new possibilities Just Joy
What made junior and senior year so vital for Laura is because of what her coach believed was possible. “It was my junior year that Coach Calder was hard on me during a certain drill. He said, ‘I want you to have the possibility of playing college soccer,’ and in my head I thought ‘what?!’ I’m not good enough to play.”
Playing in college seemed like pie in the sky to Laura. However, when she really started to think about it the more and more it became something that seemed like it could be reality. “Overtime It took root that I could actually play college soccer and I started to see that idea come to life.
I decided to sign up for a travel team and played for Team Boca for a year and a half. That became a good time for developing more skills. I started looking at colleges and I wanted to go to a small Christian college.”
College Soccer Joy
Laura went on to say how she eventually got into college soccer, “When I was in high school, I started looking at division 2 or division 3 colleges where I could play soccer. I went to a couple of different places, and really loved PBA, but when I went to practice, I felt very intimidated.”
Laura went to Southeastern as well and loved the girls there, however after two visits she was not contacted by the head coach. “In February 2011 PBA offered me a small scholarship and a position on the team and I felt like God was leading my to PBA.”
Soccer wasn’t just a sport to play for Laura, it was a way of her communicating her love for Christ. Many times, in life we have idols and Laura did not want soccer to become that for her, “Seeing soccer in the right place, so not idolizing it or getting my identity from it, was important. Soccer was something that I tried to submit to God.
Finding Identity in Christ
I would have to constantly remind myself that my identity isn’t in how I performed. My identity comes from the fact that I am made in the image of God and I am his child.”
Laura continued, “It was really important in high school and college for me to perform well, but I would also need to take a step back and surrender that. I would have to remind myself it’s not about me playing soccer to score goals or to be the best on the team, but to honor God. The fact that I was playing ultimately for God’s glory would always give me some peace.”
Laura’s favorite memory in her career was, “We won the regional championship for NCCAA the Christian conference we competed in and then got to compete in the national tournament which was so fun!!! We lost but it was an amazing experience.”
God’s calling Joy
Going into her sophomore year Laura had a decision to make: Go into missions (a huge priority of PBA), or continue with soccer? While some are called to the mission field sometimes God is using us right where we are in life.
God’s calling for Laura was to stick with soccer because that was her mission’s field. Like Laura many of us think we have to live in different countries or travel to reach people for the gospel. The truth is God might want to use you right where He has you. You might have a specific calling or gift that God wants to use in your life.
Rejoicing no matter what
Laura’s favorite passage of scripture is in Philippians 4:4-8: “Rejoice in the Lord always again I say, rejoice.”
“God calls us to have joy and playing soccer for God’s glory gave me a deep sense of joy and purpose.”
This applies to soccer but also to life. How can we truly rejoice when so much bad is happening in the world right now?
Laura replied, “So I think as Christians we can always rejoice, that we have a heavenly Father that looks after us. That we have security of salvation and victory that Jesus overcame sin and death… The victory is already there.”
She went on to say, “We can rest in the assurance of salvation and everlasting life. Focusing on those things can help us rejoice. The fact that we’re not promised tomorrow and knowing that life is short, we can have joy that we get today. Also, the fact that nothing can separate us from the love of God can bring us joy during trying times.”
Hard Times equal God’s timing
Hard times can often bring people to Christ. There was someone who a certain person was praying for, for many years. This person got the Corona Virus, recovered, and gave his life to Christ. God can definitely change people through crisis. Laura commented, “We can rejoice knowing that God’s still working and that God still hears us.”
There were three areas that all greatly apply to life. Finding your identity in Christ, God’s calling, and rejoicing. All three have different meanings but say one universal thing: Are you joyful? To find identity in Christ alone you have to find joy in it, doing whatever God has called you to do, and rejoicing in your current circumstances you have to have joy!
Are we joyful with the world we are in right now? God calls us to have joy even though or even if… Even though COVID-19 takes thousands of lives, even though this might not ever end. “My brothers, count it all joy my brethren when you encounter various trials.” James 1:2. Paul’s joy isn’t based on circumstances… It’s based on his joy in Christ! Where does your joy come from circumstances that come and go, or in Christ that is constant and forever? Even in impossible situations choose joy.
