‘Let me be the vessel’

Christian track star Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone gave credit to God as became the first woman ever to become a two-time Olympic champion in the women’s 400-meter hurdles.

The 25-year-old American won the gold medal in Paris, France, by recording a time of 50.37 seconds, beating out fellow American Anna Cockrell, who won the silver medal with a time of 51.87, and bronze medalist Femke Bol of the Netherlands, who finished in 52.15 seconds. Not having lost a 400-meter hurdles race since 2019, McLaughlin-Levrone’s victory never appeared to be in question as she pulled away from her competitors down the stretch.

“I credit all that I do to God. He’s given me a gift. He’s given me a drive to just want to continue to improve upon myself,” she said  “I have a platform and I want to use it to glorify Him, and so whenever I step on the track, it’s always the prayer of ‘God let me be the vessel in which you’re glorified’ whatever the result is, how I conduct myself, how I carry myself, not just how I perform.”

“So it’s just freedom in knowing that regardless of what happens, He’s going to get the praise through me,” she added. “And yeah, that’s why I do what I do.”

After setting another world record in June at the U.S. Trials, McLaughlin-Levrone  she said “Praise God, I was not expecting that, but He can do anything. Anything is possible in Christ.”

In a December 2023, McLaughlin-Levrone said that “the one thing that’s unchanging” is her faith in Christ. She said that being able to glorify God through her career and platform has shown her a purpose in life that is “bigger than myself.” Sharing the Gospel, she said, “is what its all about.”

“That is the most valuable thing. [My goal is] being able to share that truth with people and allow them to come to know and love the Lord in the way in which I have come to know and love,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.

“God has been so kind in just allowing me the opportunity to, first of all, fail without Him and realize my need for Him. Living my life for so long apart from Him and trying to succeed in a worldly measure of what success looks like, it always left me empty even when I attained it,” she continued.

McLaughlin-Levrone believes that although perfection is “unattainable in this life,” Christians should “always strive for excellence” and “always strive to do things … in a manner worthy of the calling of God.”

“In appreciating Him as our Savior, we humble ourselves to realize that we are not perfect,” McLaughlin-Levrone said.

“The Lord is sufficient in all things, and being able to glorify Him throughout my career and through my life on the track has shown me a purpose bigger than myself.”

article credit www.christiantoday.com