Challenges, challenges — why challenges? Could challenges be good for us? Often, when challenges come into our lives, overcoming them is what moves us forward. Challenges make us more capable, wiser and stronger in spirit and mind. Challenges, when met and overcome, raise our confidence and resolve. Consider this incredible, ridiculously difficult challenge swimmer Michael Phelps overcame in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. The Word for Today wrote this account.
“Michael Phelps captured the gold for his country in the Beijing Olympics and brought home a record eight best-time gold medals. But it won’t just be the number of medals Michael won that we’ll remember, but his invincible spirit when things turned drastically against him in the 200-meter butterfly. As he touched the wall, winning the race, nobody knew what he’d undergone to accomplish it.
“As Michael pulled off his goggles and the world watched, incredulously, water poured out of them. He’d swum 200 meters almost blind, an experienced swimmer’s dread. Counting strokes, looking desperately for any marks on the pool floor, he finally touched the finish wall, an Olympic conqueror in every sense. Phelps used his frustration to increase his stamina and determination to win.”…