Unstoppable (16 page)

Rebekah went through similar challenges. Entering high school brought with it new joys, new friends, and new challenges as well as the growing sense that she was different from the other kids. Most of her classmates were drawn to her cheerful demeanor, but some were uncomfortable
around her. A few made hurtful comments or rejected her attempts to be friends.

Those comments and rejections hurt. Rebekah tried to remain upbeat and cheerful, but she began to struggle with self-doubts and despair:
Why hasn’t God healed me? Why does He allow people to hurt me? Why do I have to be stuck in this wheelchair and in this body?

In her hurt and disappointment, she also questioned God’s love for the first time in her life:
Are You sure You love
every
person, God? Are You sure it’s not every person but me?

There is nothing wrong with respectfully asking questions of God. As the Bible says, “Seek and you will find.” It’s only through inquiry that we find answers. The problem comes when we let curiosity and an honest search for answers fuel doubt and shake our faith. Just because the answers to our questions are not readily available does not mean they are not there. Faith requires that we sometimes have to wait for God to reveal His plan for us. Sometimes when we ask questions and seek answers, we realize that His vision for our lives is much greater than our own.

Unfortunately, it is also true that life sometimes unloads one disappointment and hurt upon another. As much as you and I might try our best to stand up to these challenges, we may fall under their weight.

Despite her determined efforts to do well in school and to be a leader in her class, Rebekah found herself caught up in a controversy when it came time for her senior class graduation. She had fully expected to be graduating, and she’d even planned on offering a prayer at the ceremony. But because of a technicality, the school board ruled that she was not yet eligible for graduation, and she was not allowed to sit with her classmates during the ceremony or to participate in it.

This was a cruel blow for Rebekah. She’d long dreamed of her graduation day and the role she would play in the event. She’d also dealt with a
series of tragic losses beginning with the death of her beloved grandmother five years earlier, followed by the loss of nine friends to leukemia, Parkinson’s disease, brain cancer, and suicide.

Rebekah felt overwhelmed by unrelenting grief. Depression darkened her spirit, clouded her thinking, and shut down her faith. The enemy of her soul gained a foothold. This normally dynamic young woman who’d spent so much of her time finding ways to help others suddenly lost all interest in living. Each day seemed darker than the one before. The negative voices haunted her thoughts:
You are such a burden. Nobody really cares about you. They all just pity the poor little crippled girl
.

Suicidal urges crept in. One day she found herself staring at the knife drawer in the kitchen and considering a plan to kill herself while her mother was out shopping.

Rebekah’s loved ones tried to lift her out of this depression. Her mother insisted that she go to church one Sunday. Normally, Rebekah was the first out the door for services. Now she did not want to leave her bed. Her mother insisted. She was certain that God’s hand was still on Rebekah. She needed to be in His house, among His people.

Laurena helped Rebekah out of bed, dressed her, and helped her into a wheelchair. They drove to church. Rebekah was silent, still locked into her dark mood. As they entered the sanctuary, her mother reached for a church bulletin. A page fell out of it, an insert announcing an event.

Rebekah’s mother saw a familiar face on the page. It was someone whom her daughter had often looked to for inspiration before her depression. With tears welling up in her eyes, Laurena handed Rebekah the photograph of me and the announcement that I would be the featured speaker at the baccalaureate ceremony at her school prior to the graduation that she’d been blocked from participating in.

“Do you still think God has forgotten you?” Laurena asked her.

Rebekah had often watched my videos, and she’d even prayed that one day she could meet me, because she harbored a dream of inspiring others and sharing her faith too. I’ve often been told that just the sight of me has an impact on people. I wasn’t always sure they meant that as a good thing! But in this case it was.

For the first time in months, Rebekah felt a light come on within her. A sense of peace fell over her, washing away the tormented thoughts and self-pity. She told her mother that she wanted to attend the baccalaureate ceremonies.

After I spoke that day, Rebekah and her mother came and talked with me. Laurena told me of her daughter’s struggles, so I prayed with Rebekah, and we spent a few minutes talking in private. She shared with me what had been weighing on her heart. I understood. I told her I’d been there myself, and I reminded her of one of her own favorite Bible verses: “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”

“Let go of your worries about your disability, and put your faith and trust back in God’s ability,” I told her. “Put your focus back on Jesus. Let go and let God.”

Why did God create me without arms and legs? Why did He put me in a position to speak hope into the heart of this remarkable but hurting young woman? I look forward to the day when I can ask Him those questions face to face. Or maybe by then His reasons won’t matter, only the results will.

In 2 Corinthians 1:3–4, the apostle Paul said, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.”

I am overjoyed to report to you that Rebekah graduated one year later,
in the class of 2010. At the request of her classmates, she offered a prayer of dedication. You can be sure she touched many hearts that day and in the days that followed.

She now puts her faith into action through Formed for His Use, her nonprofit organization, and by helping others fulfill God’s purpose in their own lives as well as her own. Rebekah, once comforted, is now a comforter. She offers guidance and inspiration to individuals and families dealing with their own disabilities. By following her heart she reaches out to those who are hurting, offering them the love of Jesus Christ and sharing the message of God’s transforming power!

I’m shaking with cold but also with excitement on the Santa Monica pier in October 2010. I was producing and singing the “Something More” music video.

I loved surfing for the very first time and getting tips from Bethany Hamilton.

In Surat, India, in 2008, during a five-day period, 350,000 people came to hear me, and 80,000 made a decision to have an active personal walk with Jesus. This photo shows a crowd of 110,000—the largest I’ve ever spoken to.

In a heart-stopping moment in Colombia in 2008, the guy directly facing me explained that he was sentenced to prison for twenty-five years but that his AIDS would take his life sooner. With such joy on his face, he told me that he’d found Jesus and that I should go and tell the world that “this man is free and full of rejoicing.”

On that same trip to India and in the same town, we visited a school. I loved playing a little soccer with the children, showing them how I write with my mouth, and then giving them a mini speech.

I always wanted to see the sphinx and the pyramids of Giza. The Egyptians gave me a president’s access because they knew I wouldn’t lay a hand on anything!