An excerpt from my book, “One Arm One Leg 100 Words, Overcoming Unbelievable Hardships”
The final stage is acceptance, which finally came in the third year. People often think of the stages as lasting weeks or months. They forget that the stages are responses to feelings that can last for minutes or hours, as we flip in and out of one and then another.
We do not enter and leave each individual stage in a linear fashion. We may feel one, then another and back again to the first one. At the time when Charlene finally reached the stage of acceptance for good, the seeds of faith that were sown into her heart finally sprouted and blossomed into a mighty oak tree.
God allowed her to see the glass as half-full instead of half-empty. She started being positive about the future, even in the midst of negative circumstances. She would smile a lot. She would often point up to heaven and touch her heart as if to say, “God said it will be alright.” She re-took control of her life, redefined who she is, and re-established her own self-worth.
This all seemed to come about as a result of her reading the Bible. With scriptures such as, “All things are possible to them that believe” (Phil. 4:13), she chose to believe God’s promises over her negative circumstances and physical limitations. Today she is an amazingly self-confident, strong-willed, independent and powerful woman. Some would even say she is a cross between Martha Stewart and Wonder Woman.
God has given us faith that she will speak again, in His time, and for His purpose. Even if we are wrong and that never happens, we are okay with that. We trust Him and know that He will do whatever is in our best interest. Again, attitude is everything. We have lost so much, but we are so thankful for all that we still have. So many others have lost so much more than us. We are truly blessed.
One day we met a man who had aphasia very similar to Charlene’s. For 10 years, he was completely non-verbal. Then all of a sudden, his brain just got it and he started speaking again. He told her, “never give up!” That meeting will be a constant reminder to her that there is always hope, and God is always in control.
We still believe in miracles. God has performed so many for us already. Charlene has ministered to countless individuals in her present condition, more than if she were normal. I think of Joni Erickson Tada, who was paralyzed as a teenager in a diving accident. She now has a successful worldwide ministry for disabled people. Charlene is also blessing more people now than before her disability. Our lives are truly in God’s hands and we hope He uses this book to bless even more people.
This is just a another chapter of my book “One Arm One Leg 100 Words, Overcoming Unbelievable Hardships”. You can buy the book by clicking this link. And surely, you will not stop reading it from the beginning till the end of this book.