Kirsty
Balfour
Brought up to
attend church every Sunday, Kirsty became a Christian at an
early age. “I think I was about seven when I gave my life to
Jesus,” she remembers. However, it wasn’t until just a few years
ago that she started to think more seriously about what she
believed. “I came to a point where I had to think through
everything I believed again, and I have now made a firm
commitment to follow Jesus Christ. In the past few years my
relationship with Jesus has grown a lot stronger and I feel
closer to God.”
“I pray before competitions and when I am in the water,” she
reveals “One of my favourite verses in the bible has to be
Philippians 4:13, ‘I can do everything through Him who
strengthens me’ It is a very simple verse, but when I am
training or competing, feeling like I am just about to die, I
know God is there in the water with me, and he will see me
through.”
As a breaststroke swimmer,
Penny Heyns of South Africa is one of her heroes. “I once
read a great quote from Penny: ‘Swimming has in some ways been
my ‘classroom’ where God teaches me so much about his ability
and [to have] faith in him. I love the sense of satisfaction
that I get when I’ve done a swimming workout or race, and know
that I gave my whole being and heart to God in every moment of
the swim. It’s the best worship I can offer him.’ That is a
great quote – it is very difficult to do that when you are
really tired. In a hard training session I should be dedicating
that to God as well”.
The highlight of her
career was the Olympics. “It was amazing. It was great just
to be there. I was very grateful for the chance to go and
represent Britain at such an event. I tried to appreciate it,
enjoy the experience and not get too wound up about my
performance. I have nothing but happy memories of Athens.
I did as well as I could. I was 10th. To make the
final would have needed to take 2 secs of my Personal Best. I
also swam in the relay final. To be part of an Olympic final was
fantastic”.
Kirsty would be grateful
for prayer. “Pray that I
keep on putting God first in everything I do – even in training.
Pray for opportunities to speak to teammates about the Lord”.
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