Avery Mortman, a junior on Baylor’s Equestrian team from Argyle, Texas, has not experienced the typical collegiate equestrian career. However, her time has refined and shaped her into the person she is today and shares how her hardships have turned into her greatest victories. This is her story.

“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,” Psalms 30:11

My entire life has been centered around one thing: horses. Since I was four years old, all I ever wanted to do every day was be on the back of a horse, not much has changed in the last 16 years. I have learned more about myself, the world around me and most importantly, God, in sitting on the back of a horse than anywhere else. It has taught me the weight of hard work, what it means to persevere, how to celebrate not only the wins but the lessons that come with the losses, and the greatest one of all, what true passion feels like.

A little over a year ago, I learned my biggest lesson yet. For the greater part of the last three years, I have dealt with severe hip and back pain. My freshman year ended in an array of scans that diagnosed me with a small labral tear in my left hip. The diagnosis led to several different injections and rehab each day in order to try and avoid the dreaded thing, surgery. I never knew how much something so small could affect ones every day until those eight months of waiting, trying, waiting more and trying something new all over again. It felt like an eternity. The fall came and so did more frustrations. I spent more time on the training table than I did on the back of a horse; despite all my efforts my pain only increased. However, I had this inkling of peace I could not shake and a sureness of my next step. I asked for a meeting with my doctor and she laid all the same options out on the table only this time added one, surgery. The thing I tried to avoid for eight months became a ‘yes’ without hesitation. I met with my surgeon the following week, we laid out a timeline and the date was set for a month later.

Since my initial diagnosis I always had a deep-rooted feeling that my journey would end in surgery. My family had always rejected the idea, there was no way a seemingly perfectly healthy, 19-year-old girl needed hip surgery, it did not make sense. But I was sure. I felt like the Lord was calling me into a healing season, not just in the physical but in a mental, emotional and spiritual way.

The month leading up to my surgery was filled with mixed emotions. Excitement and fear, readiness with moments of doubt. Surgery day came and went and doctors confirmed the necessity of the surgery. That one word of reassurance was all I needed to hear, I knew God had been up to something.

The months that followed felt like a breeze, my rehab protocol increased steadily and I was cleared three weeks early. I am now a little over a year out from my surgery and have more gratitude, faith and hope more than ever.

I have had a personal relationship with Jesus since I was about 13 years old. Since then, my prayers have been filled with requests for more patience, refinement that would deepen my faith and situations that would push my heart closer to the Lords. Over the years I have had tons of little testimonies, however this one stopped me dead in my tracks. It literally took me off of my feet, made me rest and rely on God. While those 12 months were filled with lots of hard, the Lord used it all for good.

Since then, I’m back on a horse, stronger and more stable than ever before. The love I first felt at four years old has returned and continued to grow. I won my first collegiate point. All completely pain-free. But even more than that, my heart feels peace like it never has before. My patience has increased, a feat I once thought was impossible. My character has been tested and tried. And most of all, I’ve found immense gratitude in the seemingly every day ‘mundane.’

My journey has not looked like most, and for that I am grateful. The things I once took for granted are the things I now celebrate every day. The little things make a difference. Prayer works, even if it doesn’t always look the way we expect. Hardships are the greatest opportunities for the sweetest victories. And God always has our best interest, even when life may not feel like it does.