The Girl Who Was Never Supposed to Run

In 1944, a girl named Wilma Rudolph was born prematurely in Clarksville, Tennessee — the twentieth of twenty-two children. At four years old, she contracted polio, and doctors told her mother she would never walk without a brace. For years, Wilma wore a metal leg brace and endured weekly bus trips to Nashville for physical therapy.

Her mother refused to accept the diagnosis as final. And neither did Wilma.

At age nine, she shocked her doctors by removing the brace and walking on her own. By twelve, she was playing basketball. By sixteen, she had earned a spot on the United States Olympic team. And in 1960, at the Rome Olympics, Wilma Rudolph became the first American woman to win three gold medals in a single Games — in the 100 meters, the 200 meters, and the 4x100 relay.

The girl who was never supposed to walk became the fastest woman on earth.

The writer of Hebrews knew something about that kind of perseverance. "Let us run with endurance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2). Notice — the race is already marked out. The Almighty has drawn the course. Our job is not to design the path but to keep running it, even when every voice around us says to sit down.

Whatever brace life has strapped to your leg today, it does not get the last word. The One who marks the course also supplies the strength to finish it.