A high school football player had vowed to honor God at every game he played after the Lord helped him out of a devastating situation. However, during one of his games, an official warned him that if he continued honoring God on the field, he would be finished. But an unexpected note from his sister, when he needed it most, changed everything for the player, and what happened after made his faith stronger than ever.

Luke Keller’s life hasn’t been easy, and numerous events led to him battling severe depression and separation anxiety disorder, which culminated in him almost committing suicide one day while mowing the lawn, according to LiftBump. Luke’s father left his family while he was just a 10-year-old boy, then several years later, his grandmother, who lived with him, passed away from cancer, then his grandfather was sentenced to prison, all of which contributed to his terrible mental state.

According to the Portsmouth Daily Times, one day while he was mowing the lawn, he remembers having horrible suicidal thoughts. In fact, it was so bad that he tried to talk to someone he had never spoken to before – God.

“I said, ‘God if you are real. If you are what people say you are, then tell me something because today I’m going to end my life,’” Luke recalled. “’I need you now if you’re real.’”

As he continued mowing, he said he heard a voice tell him, “I want you to follow me.” Surprised that he actually received a response, he asked God to repeat what He had said to him, and again, he heard, “I want you to follow me.”

The exchange with God caused Luke to break down where he stood, and he fell to his knees and started crying. He said what he felt at that moment couldn’t be explained, and he was left in “complete shock” that after more than a year of therapy and feeling there was only one way out, the most unlikely thing cured his feelings of depression and anxiety – talking to God.

From that point on, Luke vowed that he would honor the Lord every time he scored a touchdown during a game since he believes it’s God who gave him the strength to keep going. So as promised, the running back would drop to one knee in the end zone, then point to God as a way to say “thank you” for saving him, but his celebration would soon come under fire.

While playing a game in the second round of the playoffs, an official told him that he would be ejected if he did his celebration again. Luke said the threat “devastated” him because the reason he plays “is to glorify God,” and he “wouldn’t even be here right now if it wasn’t for God saving me.”

But Luke would again get exactly what he needed, when he needed it. When his team went into the locker room at halftime, his sister passed him a note that simply read, “Be patient and let God work.”

Luke ended up scoring again, and as he hesitated to do his celebration, he looked to the crowd and saw something inspiring – the crowd of 7,000 was on its knees, pointing to the sky just like he had been doing. “I felt like God said, ‘Listen Luke, I told you Satan would come at you and I would separate it,’” he said.

His exceptional playing got him drafted to Morehead State University, but it wouldn’t be the end of his struggles. While getting ready for his junior season, Luke broke his wrist and needed surgery, which led to him contracting MRSA and receiving the horrible news that he likely wouldn’t play football again.

However, Luke would again have his faith renewed. Just six weeks into his treatment, he received a shocking call from his doctor.

“He said, ‘Hey, are you sitting down?’ I’m thinking, ‘Oh no, what else is going to come up,’” Luke says. “He said, ‘I just wanted to tell you that God has blessed you. Your blood work is perfect. It’s completely back to normal.’”

As planned, Luke took the field again this year on October 10. As he ran into the stadium, he said he was filled with the same flood of emotions he felt on the day he first found the Lord.

Luke’s testimony is evidence that if we put our faith in God, we can accomplish anything. Here’s a kid who had given up on life after it seemingly couldn’t get any worse, then at the most unexpected time, he turned to God, and everything turned completely around. That’s an inspiration, and that’s God’s will at work.

[H/T: Opposing Views]