Elevated Friday, November 2nd, 2018

Happy Elevated Friday! Today we highlight the story a veteran who, in the midst of a tennis match on the world’s stage, paused the match to be there for his teammate in need. The Invictus Games, an athletic competition for injured and disabled military service members, is an international event that brings some of the world’s best onto the playing fields. This year, in the tennis competition, UK tennis player Paul Guest was playing doubles with his Dutch teammate Edwin Vermetten. During the match, a helicopter happened to fly over the stadium which triggered Guest’s PTSD. As Guest fell into an anxiety attack, his teammate Vermetten stopped the match, embraced him, and as the entire crowd watched, seemed to whisper some sort of encouragement to him. After the attack subsided and the match finished, Vermetten was asked what he said to Guest to help him overcome the anxiety attack. Vermetten said, “I took him by the face and said, ‘Look at me. We are a team so let it go. Look into my eyes and sing the ‘Frozen’ song, and we did. For him, this was the moment he let go, and he did, he literally let it all go.”

We all likely come into contact with at least one person everyday who is struggling with some sort of mental issue. While these can range dramatically, and most we would never know about unless we asked the person, we can still all play a part in helping those people to overcome their struggles. The Bible says, “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” We all are busy, but time taken to be there for someone is always time well spent. Today, be an encourager to everyone you meet because you never know who really needs it that day.

“Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing.” – 1 Thessalonians 5:11 ESV

Original Article:

https://bit.ly/2Ois2Uo