University of Utah sophomore Kennedy Powell recognizes that she has a natural gift for running. It began casually, with her dad signing her up for Fourth of July 5K races when she was in elementary school. Then she started running cross country in sixth grade.
“As I grew older, I realized that … I have no coordination and running is the only thing I can do,” she joked during a devotional held at the university’s Institute of Religion on Friday, Feb. 21.
But her raw talent could only take her so far. After that, “you have to start working on training and hard work and focusing on what you’re doing,” Powell said. “And I think that once I realized this is when I really started to bring God into running.”
One way she did that was by memorizing a couple of scripture verses that resonated with her — 2 Nephi 22:2 and Philippians 4:13 — and reciting them before races.
She still does this every time she steps up to the starting line. Powell said this practice brings a sense of calm and reminds her that the Lord is with her no matter how the race turns out.
And it’s not just a trick for athletes. The biomedical engineering major invited her audience of fellow college students to find scriptures to repeat to themselves before an exam or even a big date.
The midday devotional featured Powell and three other University of Utah athletes who shared how faith has impacted their lives within and outside of sports: soccer forward Anna Escobedo, swimmer Kenzie Ford and football wide receiver Britain Covey.
Powell also encouraged attendees to practice consistent spiritual preparation — not just “cramming” right before an important event — and demonstrate unwavering faith. That means asking God for help and then proceeding with confidence, believing that He will provide, she said.
Ford, a senior who competes in the 50- and 100-meter freestyle and the 100-meter backstroke, admitted it can be hard to stay alert in class when she has to stay up late to finish homework and then wake up at 5 a.m. for practice. However, when she makes time for God by reading her scriptures or serving in a Church calling, she finds that God helps her focus and magnifies her time.
“When I’m exercising, that’s when I’m best able to receive revelation from God and feel His love,” Ford said. Swimming allows her to clear her mind and think through questions she has asked.
To explain the Savior’s role in her often hectic life, she read the biblical account of Jesus inviting Peter to walk to Him on water — an appropriate anecdote for someone who has trained in an aquatic environment since age 6.
“The Lord has asked each of us to follow Him, even when it seems impossible or difficult, just like He asked Peter to walk on the sea in the middle of a storm,” Ford said. When she felt overwhelmed by the demands of competing as an athlete, double majoring in applied mathematics and computer science, actively participating as a member of the Church and spending time with family, she reached out to Christ like Peter did.
“It is simple,” she said. “Do what the Lord asks, and when you begin to drown, He will lift you up.”
Escobedo, a sophomore intending to major in kinesiology, reached for Jesus Christ in a similar moment of desperation.
She attributes her success in soccer to God — and draws comfort from her relationship with Him when she hits rough patches athletically.
One of those personal lows happened this past fall. Though she started strong, Escobedo experienced a series of injuries that left her on the bench for most of the season. She felt lost and was relieved when the season ended, as she looked forward to taking a break from competition and training on her own.
Only a week into the offseason, during a pickup game of soccer against the baseball team, Escobedo made an awkward step and heard a loud pop.
An MRI revealed a fully torn ACL and partially torn meniscus. “I left the doctor’s in tears and got into my car thinking, ‘Why did this have to happen?’” she said. “I was in denial, scared and angry, especially with God, to the point where it was hard for me to pray.”
She tried to hide her emotions from family and friends, but those raw emotions eventually overcame her.
Two nights after her surgery, sleep-deprived and in pain, she poured out her heart to God and asked for strength to make it through her long recovery.
“As I finished my prayer, I was able to stop crying. And I was overcome with a sense of peace and suddenly realized that this injury happened for a reason, even though I didn’t know exactly what that reason was,” she said.
Now two months out from the surgery, Escobedo can already sense the strength and self-knowledge she has received in the wake of this unexpected obstacle.
“The strength that we gain from having a testimony and relationship with Jesus Christ is greater than any other strength,” she said, quoting Ether 12:27: “I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me; for if they humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.”
Covey, a junior studying business management who returned to the football team this season after tearing his ACL in the 2018 Pac-12 Championship, said his relatively small size poses challenges in the weight room. “I’m 5’8”, 160 on a good day,” he joked, adding that the head trainer mistook him for a ninth-grade camper on his first day of college practice.
So when the weight trainers choose one weight for every position group to lift, Covey struggles to keep up with teammates who look twice as big as him — but he feels embarrassed about asking to lift lighter weights.
When it comes to spiritual training, however, God is the ultimate “weight trainer,” Covey said. “He knows you need to get stronger. … But the thing is, He starts with where you’re at.”
Much of life’s frustration comes from the knowledge that “we should be doing something, but we’re not — or knowing that we shouldn’t be doing something, and we are,” he added.
Whether facing an addiction, a faith crisis or another problem, the question becomes, “How do we tell the weight trainer?” Covey said. He often hears the statement that an individual cannot hide their sins from God. But the more freeing and transformative teaching is that there is no need to hide one’s sins from God.
“You really don’t have to be ashamed of the fact that maybe you’re not there,” he said. “God says, … ‘You don’t have to lie to me or fake it.’” Instead, He will help each of His children lift the weights they are ready to handle — and help them grow stronger from there.
