Colts LB’s Testimony Proves God’s Work Is Never Done
By Movieguide® Contributor
Colts linebacker Grant Stuard believes the reason he is still here today is because of God.
The Houston native shared his story and how he came from a place of lack and not wanting to exist to confidently playing for the NFL.
Growing up, the now 25-year-old’s father was in and out of jail, and his mother was a drug addict and sex worker. As a child, life was very unstable.
“Grant seemingly slept on every couch in the Houston area during his middle school and high school years. Meals were no guarantee,” Sports Spectrum reported. “He had little support from his parents as he tried to juggle school, football and raising his younger brother, JoJo, and younger sister, Samaria.”
At age 20, Stuard became suicidal. One night, he drove to a Galveston beach pier and looked at some jagged rocks below him, contemplating if he should end his life. “I just wanted to be gone. I wanted to erase myself,” he told The Athletic.
When he heard a father and son laughing in the distance, he remembered his younger siblings and didn’t follow through with his plan.
About six months later, God met Stuard personally. He attended a church service with his cousin. There, he felt like the pastor was “speaking directly about him.” When it was time for prayer, a “man approached with another word of prophecy.”
“For me, that was God showing me He existed,” Stuard said. “He was telling me He cared about me, like genuinely cared about me, something that was missing my whole life.”
Since accepting Christ, Stuard has turned his life around. He joined the NFL and got custody of his younger sister. His mother got clean from drugs and now helps others to do the same.
Stuard married his wife, Josie, in 2020, and they welcomed his first son in May.
“Without Jesus, nothing matters,” Stuard said in an interview with Sports Spectrum. “I think that that’s speaks of my life in its entirety with my family, with my career, with just each and every morning we wake up, right? Because without Jesus and without a relationship with God, there’s no purpose. I spent a good amount of time walking and living my life without Jesus and without a purpose. So whenever I finally made connection with Him and surrendered my life over to Him, life became life. I felt like I actually woke up or something, I was asleep you know? So for me, He’s everything.”
Stuard was drafted into the NFL in 2021 and played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before moving to the Colts in 2022.
His future with the team is uncertain as the Colts will cut 38 names from their roster on Aug. 27.
He’s “hoping that — despite his meager measurables — the Colts value his past production and his tenacious approach to the game, and reward him with a permanent roster spot. He and the rest of his teammates have one more preseason game — Thursday at 8 p.m. ET in Cincinnati — to prove they’re deserving,” per Sports Spectrum.
For more inspiring sports stories, check out Sports Spectrum.
