By Mallory Mattingly
Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin made a public declaration of his faith and was baptized on Jan. 9.
“It was important for it to be the right time,” Hamlin told Sports Spectrum last week. “I wanted my family to be able to make it up to Buffalo to be there. I don’t want to say that I’m a completely new person, but my sense of direction and purpose and alignment with who I feel like I’m supposed to be has been on point. It brings me peace.”
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Hamlin was baptized by team chaplain Len Vanden Bos and one of his teammates Christian Benford.
Related: Damar Hamlin Back to Practice: ‘Faith is Stronger Than Any Fear’
While speaking with Sports Spectrum, Hamlin shared how his faith has changed since going into cardiac arrest in the middle of the field on Jan. 2, 2023.
“My faith was very strong — always,” he explained. “I always had an internal connection to the Lord. It feels like my faith before wasn’t built up for everything. It truly feels like every experience that I live, everything that I’ve been through as a kid growing up, it was moments to prepare me for what God was going to bless me with. I feel like all the work I was doing, God truly just hand-picked me and said, ‘I’m going to choose you for this.’”
Since that night that changed his life forever, Hamlin invested more deeply into the Chasing M’s Foundation, which focuses on “providing access to resources, education and support systems…[to] empower communities to unlock potential, overcome barriers, and shape their own best future.”
The foundation does that through “toy drives, educational scholarships and promoting health safety, [and] the foundation expanded its mission after Hamlin’s cardiac arrest to include automated external defibrillator distribution and CPR training,” Sports Spectrum reported.
This Christmas, Hamlin and his foundation gave away over 1,000 toys.
“I Gave Away 1,000+ Toys This Year In My Hometown For Christmas. 🙏🏾🎁🎄 I Pray Everyone’s Holiday Was Amazing!! Merry Christmas From Us To You!! ✝️🎄 (Full Video Link In My Bio). Thank You To Everyone Who Had A Hand In Making This Possible!” the athlete shared on Instagram.
His foundation is on a mission to make sure that “athletes everywhere have access to life-saving care.”
“All people need sometimes is just that direction and the right tools to be equipped with to be able to prosper and grow,” Hamlin said in a video for the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats campaign.
Praise God for how He used a scary moment in Hamlin’s life to deepen his relationship with Christ.
Read Next: Damar Hamlin Has Unfinished Business: ‘Twenty-One Months Ago, I Was Dead’
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