Close your eyes and imagine…you were born without arms or legs. You have only a head, a neck, and torso. Though you have no legs, you have a small left foot with two toes. This is exactly what happened to Nick Vujicic (pronounced VOO-yee-cheech). He was born with tetra-amelia syndrome, a rare disorder that is characterised by the absence of all four limbs.
Many of us might think…what a miserable life to look forward to! But, not Nick Vujicic. As he grew up he refused to allow his physical condition to limit his life or his lifestyle. This is his amazing story.
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Without any medical explanation or warning Nick was born without arms or legs in 1982 in Melbourne, Australia. It was difficult at first for his family to cope, but they met the challenge and raised Nick in a godly home and showered him with love.
Despite this love, Nick wondered in his early years why he was so different than all the other kids. He questioned what his purpose in life could be—or, if he even had a purpose. At school he was constantly bullied and ridiculed for being “different”, and he battled depression for a time. Once he even contemplated suicide and actually tried to drown himself in six inches of water in his bathtub. However, he couldn’t go through with it. He realized how badly his suicide would affect his parents.
When he reached his mid-teen years, God began to change his attitude and his outlook. God instilled in Nick a desire to make something worthwhile of his life and by so doing, serve the Lord. He credits his strength and passion for life today to his faith in God.
He couldn’t run or throw a baseball and many other things his schoolmates could do. Instead of spending time on the playground with the other kids, he focused on what he could do. He couldn’t ride a bicycle, so he rode a skateboard! He excelled in math and thinking games like chess and monopoly and learned to spend his time doing other worthwhile activities.
He graduated from college in Brisbane, Australia, with a major in accounting and financial planning. When he moved to Southern California near Los Angeles in 2005, he started a ministry called Life Without Limbs. Nick still serves as president of this international non-profit ministry.
Though God had not given him arms or legs, Nick grew to realize that he still had his five senses. Nick has gone skydiving! Falling through the air he could feel the rush of the wind and see with his own eyes the beauty of God’s creation. While surfing in the ocean this 83 lb. dynamo could hear the sound of the waves crashing all around him. When riding horseback he could smell the rustic odor of horses and the great outdoors. And, when it rained, he could enjoy the clean fresh taste of the raindrops.
Nick has gone fishing and played golf. He has amazingly experienced a thousand other things many of us take for granted. Nick’s change in attitude and his dependence on God have allowed him to soar to heights far above what he ever believed possible. When he does, it is in praise for the love and the glory of God. Nick believes so strongly in the power of God to heal that he keeps a pair of shoes in his closet in case God decides to heal him this side of heaven!
He has also experienced the beauty and emotions of married love. Nick felt God had greatly blessed him abundantly already, and then Kenae came into his life. It was love at first sight for Nick. It was for Kanae, as well, but he didn’t know that until later. He met her In McKinney, TX, about twenty miles from where I lived a few years ago. He was a speaker to a small group on behalf of his ministry, Life Without Limbs, and they met at the top of the Bell Tower in the city. They immediately connected and made plans to get to know one another better.
Nick proposed to her on a yacht in Santa Barbara, California. He chose an unusual way of proposing. He kissed her ring finger and while kissing it, since he had no hands, slid the ring that was in his mouth on her finger. Since then God has blessed them with two sons.
Today Nick is an evangelist and an international motivational speaker. He has traveled to over fifty countries and spoken to more than four million people, at schools, churches, hospitals, in prisons and in orphanages. He meets face-to-face with individuals as well as speaks to crowds of over 100,000 people. He is an author, musician, actor and loves to fish, paint and swim. He tells everyone how much God loves them and how special they are to Him. Occasionally, during one of his speaking tours someone will ask him how he got the way he is. Nick got tired of saying, “I don’t know.” Now he jokingly answers, “Cigarettes!”
Despite having no hands or legs Nick has written several books: Stand Strong, The Power of Unstoppable Faith, Unstoppable, Limitless, Life Without Limbs, and Love Without Limits. Some of his books have been translated and published in German, Chinese, and Spanish. He wrote the books by typing on a computer. He can type an astounding forty-three words per minute by using only his two small toes!
Nick Vujicic’s life reminds me of the story told in John 9:
As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.” John 9:1-3 NASB
In another of His OTHER WAYS© God has truly blessed Nick and is using him to show God’s glory and to spread His Gospel. If you want to know more about Nick and his life’s journey and work, view the website: https://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/about-nick/bio/
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God creates each person in an individual way and then equips them in ways to spread His Word.
…Moses pleaded with the Lord, “O Lord, I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get tangled.” Then the Lord asked Moses, “Who makes a person’s mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak, hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.” Exodus 4:10-12
For it was You who created my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You because I have been remarkably and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know this very well. Psalm 139:13-14
For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:9
“Sometimes the things we can’t change end up changing us.”
“The only disability in life is a bad attitude.”