Simone Biles (Tokyo 2021): Victory Over the Mind, a Christian's Perspective

By now I think we all know about the devastating news that Simon Biles will not, or by the time you see this, did not be compete in the all-around in the Tokyo 2021 Olympics. This came as a shocker to the entire world because she received the title of the G.O.A.T. (Greatest of all time) in Gymnastics. Well, the reason was not due to an injury but due to her mental health. After I heard this news that she backed out of the team competition, I thought to myself, If I could just talk to her and encourage her I feel like she would have benefited from that a lot, but unfortunately, I am not anywhere near her level of fame and she may never come to see this, so instead, I want to encourage all of you and dissect what may have caused the overwhelming mental battle and how it can be overcome by the power Christ.

This subject of mental health is so prevalent nowadays because it is affecting so many people, especially now with how our whole world has been flipped upside-down with the pandemic. Given my background I do feel that I have so much to speak on this subject, not just because I used to be a gymnast myself, but because I dealt heavily with mental issues throughout my adolescence years and even recently as a young adult, but much less now. If you ever met me or read something about my testimony you would know that I used to deal with self harm. That stemmed out of a hatred of myself. It was an attack of my mind that conjured up a standard of how I thought I needed to live, but could not meet my expectations and the expectations of everyone around me. I was left ill in the head because of the reliance I placed on myself to succeed on my own. It's actually pretty funny I never intended on sharing my gymnastics experience and I don't like talking about it so much because of how dark my life was at the time, but I think it relates to this subject. When I was in gymnastics I was so depressed and I couldn't figure out why, I felt like all I did was this sport and had done it since I was 8 years of age. I realized I never had time to really think about my life and what was bothering me so much. I ended up quitting, but it left me feeling so lost because I didn't know who I was without gymnastics. I had placed all my identity in that along with the hurt I felt of feeling like my parents didn't love me anymore because I wasn't doing the one thing that made them proud of me. It was a pain that cut so deep because I felt unloved by everyone. My biggest fear come true. More stuff happened, I tried to find worth in relationships and it all left me empty (but that's a story for another time). That's when I decided to just give up and by that I mean give up trying to do this life on my own.

The fear of man, the fear of the expectations for me to succeed were too much for me and a lot of what I see in this situation related to that. One thing that Simone Biles mentioned was that she had felt like "The weight of the world" was on her shoulders. Truthfully, I could never know what it would be like to have that much pressure on a global scale, but I do know one thing: The weight of the world can never be carried by a human being. That is God weight and whether you are an Olympian or you are just trying to take care of your family, or trying to make it through school etc., just know that there is a God that is more than able to help you through. He cares about us so much and it's so crazy, but he knew this would be a human struggle; that's why he gives us so many scriptures that are directed towards these mental struggles. Can you believe that God actually wants us to live a stress free life! Something that I realized when I gave my life to Christ was that he has the ability to give you peace of mind. He is called the prince of peace, and that is not just for Christmas time. It is a supernatural peace and is something that is more valuable than any Gold medal or any achievement you can ever receive. However, there is a constant battle because there is a real enemy trying to destroy us through our minds because if he can have the mind he knows that he can control most of you.

Did you know that a lot of our physical illnesses come from the mind as well. It has been scientifically proven that negative thoughts can have an effect on your physical health. Our minds are so powerful. That is why we can look at Simone Biles and think so easily that she can win even on her off day, but she herself, is incapable of believing so. If we feed into the lies of the enemy and don't feed on the word of God then that voice will become the dominant thought in our minds. This why God tells us take up the full armor of God. This a battle for our sanity and we cannot allow the enemy to win.

Here are 4 tips that can help you overcome any battle of the mind:

1. Put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18): We are in a spiritual battle and often times what we watch and intake can have a negative effect on our thoughts. Don't watch anything that produces any thought that isn't good. Even if that means deleting social media apps, not hearing certain songs, or watching certain movies. (yes it is that serious). Also take time in the morning to pray and so you can combat the day.

2. Give thanks and praise to God: You'd be surprised how much simply thanking God could change your perspective by acknowledging that it is only by His grace that you have anything at all (Even the breathe in your lungs).

3. Renounce the lies of the enemy: to renounce is to "formally declare one's abandonment of (a claim, right, or possession)" according to the dictionary. If you start to familiarize yourself with the word of God, you can start speaking the word over yourself and what God says is true about you.

"And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you shall only go up and not down, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, being careful to do them," ESV Deuteronomy 28:13

4. Draw near to the Holy Spirit: The holy spirit, really, can solve anything, if you just allow the holy spirit to help you, he will. He will also reveal the path for your life. People think they can't know about the future but Jesus says in John 16:13 "but when He, the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on His own; He will speak only what He hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come."

Here are some scriptures to meditate on when you feel like you are losing your peace of mind:

"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." (NIV) Philippians 4:8

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? NIV Matthew 6:25-27

"The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." NIV 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

"'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'" NIV Jeremiah 29:11