LIVING WITH A DISABILITY

I think I'll make sure I don't grizzle about anything today!!!

Have a good day!

Rowland Croucher

WHAT AN AMAZING STORY OF THIS YOUNG (AUSTRALIAN) MAN'S INNER STRENGTH AND COURAGE!

[Video below...]

My name is Nick Vujicic and I give God the Glory for how He has used my
testimony to touch thousands of hearts around the world! I was born without
limbs and doctors have no medical explanation for this birth "defect". As
you can imagine, I was faced with many challenges and obstacles.
"Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds."

....To count our hurt, pain and struggle as nothing but pure joy? As my
parents were Christians, and my Dad even a Pastor of our church, they knew
that verse very well. However, on the morning of the 4th of December 1982 in
Melbourne (Australia), the last two words on the minds of my parents was
"Praise God!". Their firstborn son had been born without limbs! There were
no warnings or time to prepare themselves for it. The doctors we shocked and
had no answers at all! There is still no medical reason why this had
happened and Nick now has a Brother and Sister who were born just like any
other baby.
The whole church mourned over my birth and my parents were absolutely
devastated. Everyone asked, "if God is a God of Love, then why would God let
something this bad happen to not just anyone, but dedicated Christians?" My
Dad thought I wouldn't survive for very long, but tests proved that I was a
healthy baby boy just with a few limbs missing.

Understandably, my parents had strong concern and evident fears of what kind
of life I'd be able to lead. God provided them strength, wisdom and courage
through those early years and soon after that I was old enough to go to
school.

The law in Australia didn't allow me to be integrated into a main-stream
school because of my physical disability. God did miracles and gave my Mom
the strength to fight for the law to be changed. I was one of the first
disabled students to be integrated into a main-stream school.

I liked going to school, and just try to live life like everyone else, but
it was in my early years of school where I encountered uncomfortable times
of feeling rejected, weird and bullied because of my physical difference. It
was very hard for me to get used to, but with the support of my parents, I
started to develop attitudes and values which helped me overcome these
challenging times. I knew that I was different but on the inside I was just
like everyone else. There were many times when I felt so low that I wouldn't
go to school just so I didn't have to face all the negative attention. I was
encouraged by my parents to ignore them and to try start making friends by
just talking with some kids. Soon the students realized that I was just like
them, and starting there God kept on blessing me with new friends.

There were times when I felt depressed and angry because I couldn't change
the way I was, or blame anyone for that matter. I went to Sunday School and
learned that God loves us all and that He cares for you. I understood that
love to a point as a child, but I didn't understand that if God loved me why
did He make me like this? Is it because I did something wrong? I thought I
must have because out of all the kids at school, I'm the only weird one. I
felt like I was a burden to those around me and the sooner I go, the better
it'd be for everyone. I wanted to end my pain and end my life at a young
age, but I am thankful once again, for my parents and family who were always
there to comfort me and give me strength.

Due to my emotional struggles I had experienced with bullying, self esteem
and loneliness, God has implanted a passion of sharing my story and
experiences to help others cope with whatever challenge they have in their
life and let God turn it into a blessing. To encourage and inspire others to
live to their fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of
accomplishing their hopes and dreams.

One of the first lessons that I have learnt was not to take things for
granted.

"And we know that in all things God works for the best for those who love
Him."

That verse spoke to my heart and convicted me to the point where that I know
that there is no such thing as luck, chance or coincidence that these "bad"
things happen in our life.
I had complete peace knowing that God won't let anything happen to us in our
life unless He has a good purpose for it all. I completely gave my life to
Christ at the age of fifteen after reading John 9. Jesus said that the
reason the man was born blind was "so that the works of God may be revealed
through Him." I truly believed that God would heal me so I could be a great
testimony of His Awesome Power. Later on I was given the wisdom to
understand that if we pray for something, if it's God's will, it'll happen
in His time. If it's not God's will for it to happen, then I know that He
has something better.

I now see that Glory revealed as He is using me just the way I am and in
ways others can't be used.

I am now twenty-three years old and have completed a Bachelor of Commerce
majoring in Financial Planning and Accounting. I am also a motivational
speaker and love to go out and share my story and testimony wherever
opportunities become available. I have developed talks to relate to and
encourage students through topics that challenge today's teenagers. I am
also a speaker in the corporate sector.

I have a passion for reaching out to youth and keep myself available for
whatever God wants me to do, and wherever He leads, I follow.

I have many dreams and goals that I have set to achieve in my life. I want
to become the best witness I can be of God's Love and Hope, to become an
international inspirational speaker and be used as a vessel in both
Christian and non-Christian venues. I want to become financially independent
by the age of 25, through real estate investments, to modify a car for me to
drive and to be interviewed and share my story on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"!
Writing several best-selling books has been one of my dreams and I hope to
finish writing my first by the end of the year. It will be called "No Arms,
No Legs, No Worries!"

I believe that if you have the desire and passion to do something, and if
it's God's will, you will achieve it in good time. As humans, we continually
put limits on ourselves for no reason at all! What's worse is putting limits
on God who can do all things. We put God in a "box". The awesome thing about
the Power of God, is that if we want to do something for God, instead of
focusing on our capability, concentrate on our availability for we know that
it is God through us and we can't do anything without Him. Once we make
ourselves available for God's work, guess whose capabilities we rely on?
God's!

May the Lord Bless you
In Christ,
Nick Vujicic



Or: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7668133414808372958