During his playing days, Michael Irvin was not the same person he is today. The calmness and composure the legendary Cowboys wideout shows now were not traits he carried during his NFL career. And it wasn’t just age that matured him. His mother, Pearl Irvin, made sure to keep her boy grounded and humbled him whenever necessary. Other than that, Irvin’s life journey, the highs of Super Bowl wins and the lows of personal battles, has shaped this version of him.

In 2015, Michael lost his mother, Pearl. Ever since, the Cowboys legend has opened up about how her presence always kept him grounded. So when he shares something raw and spiritual like “don’t let anyone steal your BLESS GLORY,” it hits differently. Because Irvin knows exactly what it cost him to get here. On Wednesday, Michael Irvin took to Instagram to share a moment from his Wednesday Night Bible Study. The former wideout posted a picture from the session along with a powerful message.

“My good friend Pastor Don is teaching: The Cost of Extraction, with a subtitle: (I didn’t know that was in me!!)” Irvin wrote in his caption. “Most of the time when God pulls great things out of us, peeps always ask, ‘How did you accomplish that?’ Because they want to take an elevator to get to your HARD-EARNED TOP!! They don’t want to go through what you had to go through… to get to where you got to… GLORY because they did not know: THE COST OF EXTRACTION.”

Michael Irvin’s been pretty open about his faith over the years, and if you’ve heard him talk, you know a lot of that comes from his mom. He’s said it before; her lessons stuck with him. But it wasn’t until 2001, after Irvin got arrested for drug possession, that he turned to faith. That moment kind of forced the former WR to slow down and look inward. And ever since, it’s been a big part of who he is.

And now, all these years later, that faith seems to be guiding Michael through another tough chapter.

Michael Irvin opens up about his health scare

In 2019, during his entertainment career days, Michael Irvin faced a scary health scare after losing his voice following a Cowboys vs. Saints game. The Cowboys legend was without his voice for almost two months, which worried the 59-year-old. He feared it might be throat cancer, especially since he lost his dad to the same disease when he was just 17. After undergoing tests and biopsies to check for cancer, thankfully, everything came back negative. And Michael was cleared of any doubts about having the disease.

After the health scare, Irvin wasn’t taking any chances. So, the former WR makes sure he gets every bit of life and strength out of his body while he can. Recently, on The Rich Eisen Show, the three-time Super Bowl champion opened up about trying a new, high-tech blood treatment called E-Boo. “They take your blood out of one arm, it goes through this machine… And then they put the blood back in you. They clean it. I don’t even know what was in that tube,” Irvin shared during his conversation with Eisen.

The Cowboys legend explained that he’s seen many of his close friends struggle with serious health issues. “I’ve seen a lot of my Redberry good friends deal with prostate cancer and other tough situations. And it’s scary,” he told Rich Eisen. Irvin’s not the only one dealing with tough health battles. His wife, Sandy, has been fighting early-onset Alzheimer’s disease for several years now. Michael and Sandy have been married for over three years, and the 59-year-old has been giving her much-needed care and support ever since. 

All in all, Irvin has made faith his steady teammate through all the health scares and personal battles. And the Cowboys legend continues playing every curveball life throws his way with that same fire he had catching passes back in the day.