People sometimes ask me how long it took me to write Suit Up! I usually smile and tell them…“About thirty-six years.”

The words may have gone onto paper during the pandemic in 2020, but God began writing this story decades earlier.

When I was a college student at the University of South Carolina, my boyfriend—who is now my husband—played football for the Gamecocks. The athletic department often asked Ben to speak at churches and schools about faith and athletics. One day, I tagged along. I don’t remember the name of the church or school. I couldn’t tell you what color the walls were or even exactly where it was. But I remember one thing with perfect clarity. Ben stood in front of a group of children holding his football uniform. One piece at a time, he explained how every part of that uniform reminded him of the Armor of God in Ephesians 6. As he held up the helmet, the shoulder pads, and every other piece of equipment, he talked about how God equips us spiritually long before we face life’s battles.

The children were captivated. So was I.

I had grown up in church. I knew the passage about the Armor of God. But I had never seen it illustrated that way before. From that day forward, I never looked at a football uniform—or Ephesians 6—the same way again.

Life moved on. Ben and I married. We raised two wonderful children. Our family spent years on football fields, basketball courts, baseball diamonds, soccer fields, cheer gyms, golf courses, and countless practices, games, and tournaments. Like so many parents, we invested time, money, coaching, equipment, and encouragement to help our children become the very best they could be.

But somewhere along the way, a question settled into my heart. Who is helping prepare their hearts?

I watched our kids experience both the triumphs and disappointments that come with competitive sports, my own faith was stretched in ways I never expected. I learned that God’s scoreboard often looks different than ours. Championships fade. Statistics are forgotten. But character, faith, courage, and trust in God last forever.

During the pandemic, with the world unexpectedly quiet, God brought me back to that simple illustration I had witnessed more than thirty years earlier. I finally picked up a pen. What I thought was the beginning of a children’s book was actually the harvest of a seed God had planted decades before.

Just as Suit Up! encourages children to prepare their hearts before they step onto the field, God was preparing my heart before He ever called me to write this story. That’s why this book is about much more than football.

It’s about trusting that before every challenge, every new season, and every calling, God has already been at work - quietly equipping us with everything we need.

— Leigh Ann