Student+Athlete Highlight: Makenzie Steele

Like a dash, The Plus has a horizontal bar that represents the school-sport balance, but there is also a vertical line that represents the relationship between the athlete and God. Because Christ laid down his life for them, the athlete lives their life for Him. In this blog series, I feature student+athletes who thrive in school and sport while pursuing the true prize.

Today's student+athlete is Makenzie Steele, Clemson distance runner and master chef/baker. I met Makenzie at the NIL Summit and we have stayed in touch since then. She is so sweet, just like her treats! Her cooking Instagram, @goodfoodgoodrun, has 30.6k followers, and her goal is to make eating healthy fun and easy. So, if you like different flavors of oats or are a banana bread enthusiast like me, check her out. With fall approaching, I am excited to see her cross country content and pumpkin spice

recipes.

Here is what Makenzie shared with me:

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I have seen God work through my life with running in many ways. Ever since I was a kid, the biggest lesson I was taught was about fully putting my trust in God, His timing, and His plan. Growing up, doing a sport in college never really crossed my mind as a possibility. But all that changed when I started running and realized the potential opportunities it could bring. I made many goals and dreams to accomplish with running, but was constantly reminded by God through mini setbacks and redirections that He had bigger and better plans for me. In those moments, it seemed like life wasn’t going how I had wanted, and I questioned God about why certain things happened. But looking back, I realized that all those paths led me to where I am today. He knew what He was doing all along. Now I go to bed each night with such a full and grateful heart because of how happy I am to be where I am today. Seeing God’s plan at work from beginning to end in this stage of my life has had a significant impact.

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I think a lot of people can relate to Makenzie's perspective. I definitely can. Hind sight is 20/20, and there is nothing that makes me feel more grateful than looking back and seeing God's hand in my life. One of my favorite quotes is "Those who leave everything in God's hand will eventually see God's hand in everything." For Makenzie and I, that means running collegiately. Stanford was never even on my radar until junior year of high school. If you asked me, my plan was to attend Duke and run track there. If you had told me that my dream, my plan, didn't come true, I would have been disappointed. I could have never imagined what God had in store for me at Stanford. Similarly, my family's plan was to live in Southern California our whole life. If you would have told my parents that they would send their daughter to kindergarten through high school in Colorado, they would have been confused and alarmed. Now, looking back, Colorado was the biggest blessing for our family in more ways than one. I might never have ran track if we still lived in California, I wouldn't have attended Valor, I might not have gotten into Stanford, I wouldn't have met my boyfriend... I could keep going. Needless to say, God's plan is better than our plan. Or as Makenzie put it, "He knew what He was doing all along."

Being Type A, it's difficult for me to see my plans not come to fruition. The most practical way for me to remember the lesson that Makenzie shared is to recall the past faithfulness of God, just like above. I can submit my goals and plans to God knowing that He has been good to me and will continue to be good to me because I love him (Romans 8:28). When I think about this, I get so excited for the future that I can't wait for it to get here! That's a topic for another time, though. (;

A verse for the week that reminds me of Makenzie's testimony: Proverbs 3:5-6

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways, submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight."

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