By Ryan Kelly –

This is a special week for our family, as my son is representing the State of Mississippi in the DYB World Series in Bossier City, Louisiana. He has been playing baseball since he was 3, and he has grown into a fantastic player with a big bat and an exceptional arm. His All-Star team this year is what we dub the “Dream Team,” where it consists of the best players in our area who are all focused on one mission, to win.

As of my writing, tomorrow they will play in the championship game against Texas. Why am I telling you this you may ask? It is because of the journey that we have recently been on with my son and his hitting. I know that some may scoff at the idea of praying for a game, but I can tell you that we have been praying fervently for his hitting since he hit a massive slump in late spring. He went 0-15 from the end of May through early July…which is the largest slump of his life by far. His confidence was down, he was doubting himself, and he grew both frustrated and discouraged. It was a truly sad time.

Does this sound familiar to anyone by chance? Life can sometimes erupt into a series of perceived failures to the point where we question everything that we do. It is a horrible “slump” that can affect us all in life.

So how did we help our son to get out of his slump? With tremendous amounts of prayer and a heart to see the greater picture of what is going on. We focused not on mechanics or practice, but on our prayer life and our reliance on the Lord to work through him as the Lord saw fit. We placed this burden on the Lord and not on our own shoulders. I remember the feeling that I had when we were down by one run with two men on base, and my son with two strikes his a blistering double off of the left field wall to score both runs and allow us to take the lead, which eventually led to a State Championship. Since then, he has batted over .800 and is the hottest hitter on the team.

Was this success his own doing? In my view, absolutely not. It was the Lord working through him and with him for a greater purpose. My job as a father now is not to celebrate, but to praise the Lord with thankfulness in humility, and to show my son to do the same. We have grown much closer to the Lord during this time, and I can only wonder if this slump was used by God to do this for us. If that is the case, I am truly thankful. In all things, I am thankful. And no matter how the game turns out tomorrow, we as a family will be thankful…for so many things.

The Lord is good and He loves us. If you are in a slump right now and are struggling to dig out, remember to dig out on your knees in prayer by placing your concerns and burdens on the Lord. He will help you like no other, and praise be to the Lord who loves His children.

“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.” Colossians 4:2