9But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Devotional
NOT "WHY ME?" BUT "WHAT FOR?"
You could forgive Bethany Hamilton if she gave in to discouragement. An
ambitious young girl, she was well on her way to fulfilling her dream of
becoming a professional surfer. But in an instant, everything –
including her life – was nearly gone.
At age 13, while surfing off the shores of Hawaii, Bethany was attacked
by a fourteen-foot tiger shark. Her left arm was severed below the
shoulder. She lost more than half her blood, and in the days that
followed, she endured numerous surgeries. Bethany was fortunate to have
survived, and everyone logically assumed her hopes of becoming a
professional surfer were over. Even Bethany initially seemed resigned to
the reality that she’d lost her arm and, with it, one of her greatest
passions.
It was a bleak picture. And, as I said, you could forgive Bethany if she
felt overwhelmed with dismay. Which makes her choice to not give in to
negativity all the more remarkable. With the help of her faith in God,
Bethany overcame seemingly insurmountable odds and was back on a
surfboard less than a month after the attack.
Country music star Carrie Underwood, one of the cast members of the
movie based on Bethany’s life, said, “She didn’t say, ‘Why me?’ She
said, ‘What for?’ What can I do with this?” Bethany herself says, “From
what seemed like such a horrible thing, God has brought glory to Himself
through me.” Since the accident, Bethany has been a role model to
people across the globe for a lot more than her surfing skills. She’s
inspired young and old alike to trust God through their adversity. Just
as the Apostle Paul detailed in his second letter to the Corinthian
church, when our greatest weakness is yielded to Christ, He can
transform it into one of our greatest strengths.
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