In the movie, Seabiscuit, a true story about the life of a rejected horse who becomes the greatest racehorse of the 20th century, there are several lessons to be learned. The story shows that if a horse can turn his life around, so can we all. No life is beyond redemption, no situation too hopeless, no difficulty or adversity that does not carry a potential benefit.

In the story of Seabiscuit, the horse began to win races after a string of defeats and failures. With loving care, expert guidance and training, Seabiscuit began to show his true colours, that his potential was always there.

We all have potential hidden within. A little boy stood with his mother and stared at a magnificent carving of a statue by Michelangelo. After his mother explained that the statue was made from marble, the little boy asked her, "Mummy, how did Michelangelo know the man was in there?"

The boy's innocent question is telling. It takes a lot of cutting, chopping and changing to reveal what is inside of you. Can you imagine the hammering that the marble had to endure in order to reveal the statue?

Perseverance

And so it is with us. Life may hammer us. Circumstances may beat us down. Things may go against us. But if we persevere, something precious and worth-while will emerge from our trials.

At the time Seabiscuit was winning races, there was a magnificent, unbeaten stallion called War Admiral. War Admiral, the prized possession of a millionaire, was much larger and stronger than Seabiscuit. He had never been defeated and, apparently, was invincible. Seabiscuit's handlers challenged War Admiral's owner to a two-horse race. Although the offer was rejected at first as being ridiculous, popular pressure was brought to bear on War Admiral's owner and he finally agreed to the race.

Seabiscuit's trainer realised that no horse could ever catch up with War Admiral if the latter horse jumped ahead at the start. So the trainer decided to teach Seabiscuit to jump out first. How he accomplished this can be seen in the movie. The point of interest is that the trainer decided to keep his plans away from the press by training Seabiscuit in total darkness - at the dead of night.

Seabiscuit's jockey was blind in one eye and was not able to see well in the day, much less at night. During one of the runs in total darkness, the jockey complained, "I can't see". But the trainer uttered another incredible line in the movie; "Don't worry about that. He can see."

Disappointment

In the 2003 movie, Red Pollard (Tobey McGuire) urges Seabiscuit on. - Contributed

And so it is with your life and mine. There is many a situation we go through that we can't see, understand or immediately explain. But a Higher Power is seeing for us and carrying us through. There are so many situations that we look back on and see that even in our disappointment, in what we thought was failure, things worked out for good.

Many times in our lives, we cannot immediately see the purpose in our suffering. But later on as life unfolds, we find that there was a purpose to our trials, that we are now stronger, wiser. Brokenness carries a purpose. It is said that bones grow stronger at the places where they are broken.

It is important to know what our Creator can see when we can't see, that when we saw only one set of footprints in the sand, those were the times He carried us on life's journey. Seabiscuit's extraordinary night training was to lead him to his greatest victory, but he had yet one major hurdle to overcome, a hurdle with which you, too, may have to deal. We'll learn about that next week.