Nick Vujicic is a preacher and motivational speaker of repute. He is in a class all by himself. His passion and energy is experienced when you encounter him. Whether it is a 500 or 5,000-man crowd, the feel is the same. He conveys his message with such vibrancy that you have no other choice but to be moved to decision and action. His joy is almost palpable. He is a walking fireworks exhibition. even though he is known to be naughty and full of pranks, he delivers his life message with every conviction he can muster. In all, there is no dull moment with Nick. From the Americas to Asia, and down to Africa, the voice and testimony of Nick has resonated with distinct tonality. His words reverberate of hope, joy and confidence in God. His has affected the lives of almost everybody he has ever encountered. You would almost envy his perfect life until you met him. Despite his large, joyful heart and strong convincing voice, Nick strikes a rather unusual stature: he has no arms and legs!
Born with a rare disorder, Tetra-amelia, Nick had to adjust to a life without all four limbs. In his early childhood days, he contemplated suicide, but later became grateful for his condition as he realized his life and accomplishments would inspire others to strive for an even better life.
Amongst his celebrations are a nomination for "Young Australian of the Year" Award in 2005 and an award for Best Actor in a Short Film for “The Butterfly Circus” which won the Doorpost Film Project's top prize of 2009 and the Best Short Film award at the Method Fest Film Festival. In all, despite his limitations, he has lived a full life characterized by joy, laughter and impact. You can check him out at www.lifewithoutlimbs.org.
Perception: Our Greatest Challenge
The problems we have are not really problems in themselves, rather it is our perception of difficulties and strains that constitutes our greatest challenge. We tend to focus more on what we don’t have and hereby, loose focus of what we have. Due to our selfish nature—a nature that always aims to acquire and hoard—we look out our windows for more things to acquire rather than keeping our sights locked on what we have and the possibilities they hold within them.
At the beginning of the economic recession, I heard a rather disturbing story. A billionaire had committed suicide because he went to bed a billionaire and woke up a millionaire. That, to me, was one of the most pathetic twists I ever heard. This man had hundreds of millions of dollars stacked up in bank or locked up in assets, and just because he lost a few millions, life had no meaning for him. Talk about focusing on what you do not have.
I challenge you to repent, and by that I mean this: Change your thought pattern. Take your mind off your inadequacies. Focus on what you have within and around you, and work them until they bring out the best in and for you.
A Stammering (Stuttering) Public Speaker Like Me
I can’t recall exactly when I developed my speech impediment, but I attribute it to a bad habit of imitating my dear friend who was an established stutterer. For as long as I can recall,I have had to stammer my way through words. It has come with the almost usual anger management issues probably because of the difficulty of expression associated with the disorder. The flip side was a life of characterized by fewer words and more actions—fewer words because I chose one of the two options that took the less time to accomplish. I would rather hit someone that annoyed me than explain how they had upset me. I was an angry teenager, withdrawn, because I didn't want to suffer through many words, and edgy, because I chose action over words. It was a dark season of my life, but gladly, those days are gone.
It took years for me to shift my focus from my speech limitations to other strong areas of my life. I was forced to repent when I had to answer my call to ministry. I was asked to be the Pastor of my church on campus. Being a Pastor meant having to speak publicly at least twice every week. How was I going to transition from hardly ever engaging in long discussions to joggling leadership training meetings, counseling sessions and sermons? That required too many words—too fast, too soon! There had to be a radical change in my mentality if I was going to pull this off! God sent me the much needed help.
At the edge of my ponder, I encountered this text:
My grace (My favor and loving-kindness and mercy) is enough for you…for My strength and power are made perfect (fulfilled and completed) and show themselves most effective in [your] weakness. Therefore, I will all the more gladly glory in my weaknesses and infirmities, that the strength and power of Christ (the Messiah) may rest (yes, may pitch a tent over and dwell) upon me! 2 Corinthians 12:9 (Amplified Bible)
This was God speaking directly to me! My weakness was going to showcase the strength of God. That meant that despite my inadequacies, I was still going to make an impact so long as I kept my eyes off my short-comings. This was a great encouragement to me. It spurred me on. I chose to harness my strengths as best I could, while I trusted God to show up for me, filling my inadequacies and polishing my strengths. He did just that! I went on to deliver some of the most profound messages ever! I remember one particular sermon that had me running between cities preaching and re-preaching it. People gave testimonies of how my messages had moved them into new realms in their lives. It was not my power, but God acting through my weakness to bring about life change. I was the modern day Moses, who had a speech impediment like me, but was called to speak to the greatest ruler in all the earth, and he did that marvelously well and with all the power necessary to do so.
Summary
One look at Nick Vujicic and you immediately catch the image of a man who has decided to work with what he has, no matter how little it might seem. Today, he sits amongst the ranks of men who have radically impacted the inspired countless men and women. Now, what if he had focused so much on his lack of limbs (his weakness) to such extent that his strong voice and energy (his strengths) echoed the fact that he was limbless? He would then have used his God-given strengths to make obvious his limitations and thus, sabotaged the impact he now has.
“Most of us have used our strengths to promote and exalt our weaknesses. With our lips and deeds, we have made obvious our inadequacies and downplayed the vigor of our forte.”
The world is waiting on you to use what you have. The whole earth is waiting on your impact. And remember…
Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses…to put the wise to shame, and what the world calls weak to put the strong to shame. 1 Corinthians 1:27 (The Message & Amplified Bible)
References
Nick’s story is from Wikipedia