“What happens in you is more important than what happens to you.”
From where I sit today I am forced to look at life from a place I never expected or wanted to be; totally paralyzed from the shoulders down, sitting in a chair that I drive by blowing and sucking in a straw, typing one letter at a time with a mouth stick.
I often wonder where I would be had I made different choices and been given different opportunities. Nevertheless, here I sit typing, because of one seemingly small decision to dive off a boat dock on July 15, 1991, at the age of 19.
The unwanted circumstances that followed my decision changed the course of my life. Over time I began to see that the changes were not all bad. I learned a few valuable life lessons and became a better, stronger person. It wasn’t easy, and it took some time, but God also showed me that He could still use me in many ways. Speaking, writing, working with kids, and building websites just to name a few.
But the real story is not what I have done since becoming paralyzed, it’s what God has done in me. He’s given my life hope, purpose, and direction. He has taught me to look for things I could do instead of focus on all the things I could not do. He’s proven to me that giving what I have is more important than what I have to give. He has helped me learn to “live with” my paralysis by accepting it and making the most out of life despite the unwanted circumstances.