“When I go onto the field, I am super pumped up! I love challenges; I love facing things head on.” Jemimah Rodrigues, all rounder in India’s women cricket team, had been a bubbly, full of life person. As a child she would see her brothers play cricket so she would join in. To encourage her, her grandfather bought her a plastic bat.
Jemimah’s family supported her dreams of becoming a cricketer. Her journey to becoming the world-renowned cricketer that she is today, was one of hard work and determination. “I had to take the 5:30 am train to go for practice. I was supported! I was not pampered!” Jemimah recalled with a smile on her face. Playing the World Cup was Jemimah’s dream, and she spent every waking moment preparing for it. When the list came out, she was devastated to see that her name was not on the list. Jemimah’s life suddenly took an unexpected turn.
“I had never been dropped from a team. I went numb,” she said, remembering how lost she felt. “I was anxious all the time, I couldn’t sleep for many nights and I would go to practice frustrated every day,” she said recalling the heartbreaking season of her life. She decided to take a break from cricket and turn her focus to God.
Jemimah anchored herself in her family and her church. Being a pastor’s child, she had always been involved in church. She went back to leading worship service and investing in the church. She remembers hearing her father speak about the Lord taking people into the wilderness – a place where everything is unknown and shaken – not to abandon them, but to prepare them for new heights. This helped her realize that her first step in adversity should be to lean on God.
She was ready to go back from the wilderness to centre stage in women’s cricket. Jemimah returned to cricket with a big challenge in front of her – the India and Pakistan World Cup match. The pressure was high. She remembers asking God for direction during a difficult moment in the match and finding stillness in Him. The reminder of 2 Corinthians 4:16, Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day stays with her continually as she continues this journey of achieving her dream of being cricket’s rising star.
“Even when the big picture looks hazy, God shows us the next step. It’s about having faith in Him, and building a steady foundation in Christ, so you are not shaken when storms come,” Jemimah said with a sense of peace with regards to her future.
#TheDriveWithin
