It is certainly difficult to imagine anyone surviving in this world without arms and legs. One would certainly shudder at the mere thought of it. But, if God takes something from someone, He provides him or her the means to survive.
Meet Nicholas James Vujicic, an Australian, who was born with Tetra-Amelia Syndrome, a rare disorder in which the limbs fail to develop. He is among the seven surviving individuals in the world to have been born without arms and legs.
Vujicic’s parents were Serbian immigrants from Yugoslavia and became active members of the Melbourne church. His father worked in business management, while his mother attended nursing school at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne.
Vujicic was born in Melbourne, Australia in 1982. When this baby, without arms and legs, was shown to his mother, she was so shocked that she refused to see him or hold him. Later, his parents accepted him and termed it as God’s plan for his son. Vujicic admits that he did attempt suicide, but in the same vein claims that he had an ‘amazingly normal childhood’.
Today, Vujicic makes light of his condition and terms his small deformed feet as ‘chicken drumsticks’! Fortunately for him, surgeons managed to separate his fused toes that now enable him to use them as fingers to hold and carry out other functions. He is able to operate his electric wheelchair, a computer and a mobile phone.
Despite becoming a target of bullies in his teenage and young adult years, he was motivated to study and graduated in Commerce from Griffith University, with a double major in accountancy and financial planning. What motivated him when he was only 17, was a newspaper cutting, shown by his mother, of a man dealing with severe disability.
Vujicic’s condition made him turn towards God. Little wonder today he is a well-known Australian Christian evangelist and motivational speaker. He is also the founder of Life Without Limbs. According to him, facing countless challenges and obstacles has given him the strength to surmount the impossible.
He maintains that doors open to a man without arms and legs much more easily than to normal people. He has been invited all over to share his faith in Jesus Christ and received positive responses from millions of people from around the world.
Vujicic travels extensively and to date has visited over 63 countries. His singular aim of such visits is to introduce Jesus to those he meets and tell them of His great desire to meet all of them personally as their Lord and Savior. This is what is fundamental to Life Without Limbs.
Vujicic believes that he is Christ’s messenger and has been ordained to meet people face to face wherever he can. Till now he has been in countless schools, churches, prisons, orphanages, hospitals, stadiums, and other places with only this message that all individuals are precious to God and He has a plan for each one of them.
He maintains that each life is meaningful and purposeful. Giving his own example, he says God made his life look insignificant as compared to other able-bodied persons, but has filled him with His purpose and showed him the way to move hearts and lives to come nearer to Him.
To this end, Vujicic endeavours to cross boundaries and break down barriers, build bridges with the only purpose to bring people into the ever-loving fold of Jesus Christ. His God-given charisma and the way with people helps him in striking a rapport with children, teens and adults of any nationality and from various backgrounds.
Vujicic does not find his disability in any way hampering his ability to inspire and spark the flame of hope in the lives of whoever he comes across. His love for Christ is genuine and that really rubs on people who are literally captivated and disarmed by his devotion and unconditional love for Jesus. This makes them feel the oneness with what he believes and motivates them to follow in his footsteps.
Jesus Christ, who loves us and died for us to give us a new life in Him, has given a purpose to Vujicic to search for that one and the only power source that can profoundly transform a person’s life.
Life Without Limbs
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