Re-posted blog from Mon, 01 Sep 2008
Nick Vujicic, the Man without Limbs, spoke to capacity crowds and overflow rooms at our church this week . He was very encouraging so I will spend the next devotions sharing what he said.
After worship, his caretaker, a tall young man in a black t-shirt, carried him up to the stage, and placed him gently down. Immediately he started moving on the stage and speaking in his witty Australian accent.
“I have two feet!" He shared halfway into his talk. We could only see his torso and one foot that he flaps around as he waddles like a duck moving back and forth vigorously while he speaks. (We know if he had hands they would be flying.) With that one he controls his BMW wheelchair. The other foot was a tiny stub…”It’s hidden from view” he said, tilting his body to expose it under his pant cuff. “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
Everything this young 25 year old preacher, teacher said was loaded with meaning and takeaway value.
The doctor apologized to his parents immediately after his birth that the ultrasound did not catch his anomalies in the womb, predicting he would lie in a bed the rest of his life. There was no medical explanation why he was born without arms and legs. His strong Christian parents birthed two healthy siblings after he was born.
At this time, through his dvd’s and extensive speaking engagements he has reached 55 million people…and he is on Oprah upcoming. The dominating theme of his message: God still has a plan and a path of truth for each one of us even in those times when we feel God has forgotten us.
Nick believes Psalm 139:14,15, “I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made…my frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place.”
He prayed for a miracle in his own life. He believes God can heal him…if God wanted. But “If God doesn’t give me a miracle, I’m a miracle for someone else… Your life can be a priceless gift of hope to someone else.”
If God doesn’t change your position—He’ll position you.
We need to know why we are here, and where we are going. He claims God gave him to us so when circumstances don’t change and God doesn’t make sense, we have a picture of hope. Nick knew he was loved by God and his family; he was often told everything would be Okay. But he didn't really know that; he had no example to work from. That's why it was very special for him and a young boy of 5 or 6 when they met earlier this year in Los Angeles during a conference.
Halfway through the talk the little boy's Mom carried him to the front and placed him next to Nick; they were exactly the same.
“I had never seen anyone else like me,” Nick said. “It would have helped so much when I was a young boy his age to have met a man like me. It was a tremendous help for him and his parents. It gave them hope.” "Coincidentally' Nick's parents were flying from Australia, to America for the first time in fourteen years, at the same time Nick was standing next to that young boy and in front of a tearful audience. The next day they were able to spend the day with the young boys parents and answer questions and give them support.”
It was one of God’s amazing ways… and times. And another evidence of God's good plan.