As I prepared for the 1988 and 1992 Olympics, Gideon was my hero. Gideon, a judge in the Old Testament, faced a challenge-an army that greatly outnumbered his forces.

Sometimes I think that as an athlete or simply as a person you can feel outnumbered, and sometimes you can blame yourself for feeling that way. But maybe at those times it's God's way of saying, "Let Me show you that I'm going to win the victory for you, and then you will know that it was I who fought for you, and this will increase your faith and the faith of people who witness it."

I always felt that God wanted me to know absolutely that the victory was His. I went through all sorts of circumstances that made it impossible for me to see that the victory was mine or that I was responsible for it.

I think it is often hard to tell whether you are trusting in yourself to win certain battles in life or trusting in God. I think it's easy for a person who's on a fast pace to try to be self-sufficient and to skip the provision of God-to look past it and think, "The victory relies on me."

Gideon, despite all the abuse he probably took for his actions, wound up obeying God and winning. Then he was faithful to give God the credit. It was not really Gideon, but God's work through Gideon.

During one skating season I asked a friend of mine to spend 3 hours a week going over the heroes and the highlights of the Old Testament with me. Phillip Araoz and I met for a time of prayer and Bible study in my dorm, where we studied Abraham, David, Gideon, Elijah, Elisha, Joshua, and Daniel, to name just a few.

Not only did I begin to grasp the bigger picture of Christianity, but I began to see God differently. I started to see possibilities for His interaction in every part of my life. Instead of being independent from God, trying to do things for His glory but without His involvement, I tried to imitate those heroes by looking to the Lord for solutions.

God has allowed me to go into the wilderness, where I tasted some bitter defeats, but then He enabled me to skate my best when it truly counted.