From the Dugout to Discipleship: How God Found a College Softball Player

One FOCUS missionary’s journey to abundant joy with Jesus.

(Photo provided)

By Isabella Ingui

Growing up, my faith was mostly contingent on my parents’ expectations, and I never truly had a personal relationship with God.

I was baptized and received my First Communion in the Catholic Church, and my family attended Sunday Mass until middle school, when sports took precedence. After that, my life essentially revolved around getting good grades and getting recruited to play softball in college. I spent most summers playing in different states and at tournaments almost every weekend, which left no room for God.

This lack of space for him in my life led to an attitude of never wanting to be Catholic at all. God was foreign, meaning he needed to be kept as far away as possible. But as it turns out, the stability, comfort and acceptance I had been searching for the whole time could only be found in the one place I avoided the most. Thankfully, God made sure I could not avoid him any longer because I committed to play softball at Benedictine College the summer before my senior year of high school.

 My first year at Benedictine was one of the hardest years of my life. I was so lost, broken and hopeless, placing my identity in my sport and the people around me. I believed my worth was rooted in my performance, and my identity was founded on my skill and ability to play softball. I found myself constantly searching for satisfaction, acceptance and joy, yet I never found what I was looking for.

After spending all of freshman year unsatisfied, broken and more hopeless than I had ever been, my teammate invited me to the team bible study she led with a FOCUS (Fellowship of Catholic University Students) missionary.

At this bible study, I first encountered the Lord as we read about the woman at the well (John 4:7-31). In this passage, I encountered a God who loves me regardless of my actions, my past, my failures, or my successes — and not only that, but a God who sought me out like no one ever has. I came to see how God sees me, and that it is his love and his mercy that my identity is founded on.

Once I learned this, I knew I had to share it with everyone I knew. This bible study lit the match that set my heart on fire for Jesus Christ and ignited my desire for an adventure only God could create.

If not for the FOCUS missionary who encountered me, I would not have come to know my true identity and worth. Every person deserves to know that their identity and worth have nothing to do with their performance or playing ability; they have everything to do with being a child of God, loved into existence.

There is no greater joy than this, to know that you are loved by Jesus Christ, who has sought you out through all of time and chose to die for you because of how much you matter to him.

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Isabella Ingui is a FOCUS missionary from Highlands Ranch serving at Boise State University.