Nick Vujicic was born without limbs. He wondered, “Why?!” Until he was 15. Then he read something that changed his life forever. He became an overnight sensation, speaking to thousands and thousands of people all over the world, and that journey continues today.
James O’Connell was born to very young parents, and he was adopted. When Jim was 3 years old, he was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis, a disabling, terminal condition. At the age of 8, he was told that he would likely not live long enough to graduate from high school. He grew up living with the belief that he had no future. From then on, he just survived. He blamed God for having the disease and cried a lot. He didn’t fit in. He was picked on and beat up often. One child told him his parents didn’t love him; that’s why they gave him up for adoption. He turned to alcohol and drugs to numb the pain. When he was arrested, things changed. He had a lot of time to think. Today, he has a different outlook on life. This is his story.
Justin Peters was born with cerebral palsy. Though he was raised in a Christian family and went to church on a regular basis, the church was not very solid, theologically. When a faith healer came through the area, a friend talked him into going, He went believing he would be healed, but he wasn’t healed. Though he continued as a “Christian” and had given intellectual ascent to the faith, it wasn’t until after going to seminary and becoming a preacher that he entered into a life-changing faith in God. This is his story.
Luke Hahn wasn’t born with a disability. He was a good athlete who lived a privileged life. The day he turned 21 he was in an accident. The accident left him in a wheelchair. He didn’t know God, but he had put on a good show. God stripped away the false profession of faith along with his pride. Through the struggles and the difficulties, he come to know God personally.
Jessica long was born without bones in her lower leg to a 16-year old girl in Russia who could not handle her birth defects and gave her up for adoption. She was adopted from an orphanage by a church couple in Baltimore. All her life she heard, “God made you that way”, and though people would add that “God had a plan for her”, she didn’t want anything to do with a God who “made her that way”. She wondered what she did wrong. She was driven to be perfect. She turned her anger into beating swimmers with legs in competition. She had unprecedented success, but she was “broken and sad”. This is her story:
Navigating by Faith 