God Doesn't Make Mistakes...

There are a number of people in my little world who I greatly admire.   I admire them for who they are, not what they have.  

My nephew Anthony no longer has the use of his legs.  He’s been in a wheelchair since he turned 21.  A bad accident on a cold November’s night changed his life forever.   

However, on this cold morning 18 years later, he spoke to a room full of kids at my daughter’s school.  

He shared with them that he had been drinking and lost control of his motorcycle and crashed into a telephone pole.  He told them that he had died twice on the way to the hospital.  He told them that he had spent six months in the hospital.  He told them that he didn’t have God in his life.  

The room fell silent when he began to cry about how his Mom would pray for him.  How it was so important that he find and know the Lord.  

Several months after his accident, his weak and frail body made it home.  He faced a new life without the use of his legs.  This avid motorcycle/surfing/baseball playing guy entered a new world.  Everywhere he turned, he encountered people who said they were praying for him.  And within a few months, he gave his life to Jesus.  

I’m going to guess that no one in that room this morning will ever forget him or his story.   The kids won’t.  The teachers won’t.  And the parents won’t.  

He filled that room with hope.  And encouragement.  And delivered a lesson for all to remember -- God has a plan for your life.  

I remember walking into the ICU the morning after his accident.  I remember that he was unrecognizable.  I remember his tongue was as thick as an encyclopedia.  His eyes were black and blue, his shattered leg was held up by two steel rods and the number of tubes and machines I saw were overwhelming.  

I also remember taking him out into the sunlight for the very first time after his accident.  He hadn’t seen the sun in over six months.  As my sister and brother-in-law placed sunglasses over his eyes and wheeled him outside of the hospital, I remember looking at his thin, thin body that was barely able to sit upright in the wheelchair.  This strapping six foot guy who loved to jet ski now struggled to hold himself up.

And I remember standing there, choking back the tears and thinking, 
God, what did you do?  
Why did this happen? 
 How could any good ever come out of this?

And I’m sure God was saying, “I don’t make mistakes.  

Remember Jeremiah 29:11 --

For I know the plans I have for you.  

They are plans for good and not for disaster, 

to give you a future and hope.” 

When I was facing cancer and my very long recovery, I looked to my nephew as my inspiration.  I remember what he looked like and what he couldn’t do.  And then I remembered what he looks like now and what he can do.   And what he does do.  For everybody.  

He is the epitome of encouragement.  
He is the poster child that God Does Not Make Mistakes.  

Though his legs no longer work, his heart is in overdrive.  

Thank you, Anthony, for sharing your story with all of us at 
Bethany Christian School!

xoxo!!!