God's Faithfulness at Work

The main tournament for women’s professional soccer here in Brazil runs from April through December. One week before the games were supposed to start, our team was informed that we were ineligible to participate, because we are a first-year club and don’t have sufficient funds to enter our team. This was a huge disappointment for our players, who have participated in this tournament every year with their previous clubs. It also meant that our team would be training for the entire year with no games to play besides one, weeklong tournament in July. These girls were looking at 10 months of Coach Tina’s training, and only 3 or 4 games to play! Our players had willingly given up opportunities to play for big name teams and receive salaries. They left their homes, families and a few even quit their jobs, in a response to God’s calling to be a part of Eagles Brasil. We shared this news with them, asked each of them to pray and gave them the option to leave if they wanted to join a team that would be able to give them a salary as well as an opportunity to compete in this tournament. Acknowledging the struggle that they would face, each one of them stood firm in their commitment to be a part of this foundational, building year regardless of the circumstances. They understand the sacrifice and work it will take in order to build something here that will make a lasting impact in Brazilian soccer and in the world.

God continues to teach us to trust Him and believe that He is the one that opens His hands to satisfy all of our needs. A week after receiving the discouraging news, we saw God’s faithfulness at work. A brand new tournament formed this year, and a random friend of one of our players called to tell her that they were looking for one more team that could play, because one had dropped out at the last minute. Enter Eagles Brasil! Now we have games to play in, opportunities to reach other teams with the gospel, and to put into practice all that we are learning. What’s more, this tournament has no entrance fees and actually includes prize money for the top four teams! Praise God!