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Real Answers™
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Copyright: ©2009 Rusty Wright
580 words

"LIFE WITHOUT LIMBS" INSPIRES

By: Rusty Wright

Discouraged about your finances, employment, business, or rocky relationships?  Meet a guy who will inspire you to face your challenges and dream big.

When you’ve got no arms and no legs, life could seem futile.  Nick Vujicic was born that way, yet he’s overcome tremendous obstacles to develop a positive mindset that’s contagious. 

Maybe you’ve seen him on television or the web.  He spoke in our town recently.  This twenty-something Aussie travels the globe with his upbeat message of finding hope amid despair, coping with rejection, and maximizing your potential.  His body is mostly torso, just one small foot on his left hip.  Yet, he swims, surfs and plays golf.  Attitude works wonders for this corporate and school motivational speaker.

It’s not been easy.  At his birth, his dad left the hospital room in shock to vomit.  After four months his mother finally felt she could hold him.  His parents determined to help him succeed. His father started teaching him to swim at 18 months.  At six, he learned to type with his toe.  His mother’s makeshift plastic pencil holder enabled him to write.

Teasing and bullying followed him at school.  Ever been teased for your appearance, athletic shortcomings, or intellectual blunders?  Imagine being a limbless grade-schooler.  Can you spell a-n-g-u-i-s-h?

Depressed at age eight, he considered suicide.  “I felt cold and bitter,” he told the UK’s Daily Mail.  “I hated God for doing this to me and was terrified of what would happen when my parents weren't there to look after me.”  He tried to drown himself in the bathtub.  “I felt there was no purpose; when you lack purpose and strength it is hard to hold on.”

“Do you put on a smile when you’re crying inside?” he asked our local audience.  “I know how that feels.”

Friends, family and faith made the difference for him.  “I don’t need arms and legs,” he told the crowd.  “I need peace. I need joy. I need purpose.” 

He says he has found this in the God he once hated:  “God understands the language of your tears. …If you put your happiness in temporary things, your happiness will be temporary.”

His sense of humor helps defuse possible tension among those who might not resonate with his faith:  “If you don’t agree with me, don’t handcuff me!”

“What’s worse than having no arms and no legs is the fear of being alone,” explains Nick.  “I asked God for arms and legs.  He didn’t give me arms and legs.  He gave me hope [and] healed my heart.”

Nick finds guidance for adversity in a statement from Paul, a first-Century follower of Jesus: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”  Now he helps kids and adults deal with rejection, love themselves, forgive their tormentors, and aim high. 

His example touches lives.  After speaking in Orange County, CA, he met Daniel Martinez, a boy with no arms or legs.  “Someone I can wrestle with!” Nick quipped playfully.  Daniel’s mom confided, “Now I know that Daniel’s going to be OK.”

A realist, he notes that people see him and say, “Nick, I’ll never complain again!”  “Yes, you will!” he admonishes.  Forgiveness is central to his message.  He feels divine love and forgiveness help him to love and forgive others.  “He [God] has all that you need,” affirms Nick.  To begin a faith journey like his, this remarkable man says, “All you need to do is say ‘Yes’ [to Him].”  www.lifewithoutlimbs.org

Rusty Wright is an author and lecturer who has spoken on six continents.  He holds Bachelor of Science (psychology) and Master of Theology degrees from Duke and Oxford universities, respectively.

"Real Answers™" furnished courtesy of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write or E-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI 48901-6091; amyfoundtn@aol.com

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