Deferred, not denied - Charlie Fong
“God, I don’t know if you exist or not; but if you do, please let me play soccer. I just want a ball by my feet, running around on fresh green grass. I want to be free.”
That was my first prayer.
Despite playing the sport for 7+ years, I still struggled with self-esteem on the field and feeling confident in my cleats. Apart from lacking in skill, I consistently got injured, dislocating both my kneecaps a total of five times.
Feeling dejected and seemingly rejected from the sport that I loved, I asked God: "Father, do you not want me to play soccer? Why do I still fail to pass and dribble properly when I practice just as hard as everyone else, if not more so? What is it that you find fault in me?" I had begun to see my inability to excel on the soccer field as God poking fun at me, that God was depriving me of this one sport that I cared deeply about.
Recently, I got in touch with this occupational therapist and Chinese doctor who also happens to be a Christian. The first time that I went to him was for insomnia, but he went straight to my legs.
"Young lady, your legs are so tight," he said.
"Yeah, I play soccer," I tried to smile.
"Are you on the Hong Kong team?" he asked.
"No, no way," I said with a wistful chuckle. "I don't have what it takes to make the team."
"I guarantee you, I'll heal you so that you can make the team."
Then he popped my knee joints back into place. My legs were numb for almost an hour, and I could only walk again when the doctor told me to stand up.
Stepping on my feet again, I felt a surge of renewed energy wafting through my bones. Realisation came over me: it wasn't that I hadn't worked hard as a soccer player, it was because of a disability in my legs that I couldn't play as well as I hoped. God was not going to deprive me of the love of my life – soccer is a noble and healthy sport. He just wanted to use my body and my story to glorify Him, whether it be encouraging others who have suffered injuries or motivating others in their sporting journey.
To help me achieve greater heights, he is also sending people like this doctor to help me. I just had to trust in him that a dream deferred doesn't mean a dream denied. A dream deferred means that he is about to do great things. You just have to wait and see.
Charlie Fong is one of our seniors at Flight Youth and recently completed a journalism internship at CNN HK.
