My parents knew well the oft-quoted verse from James 1:2: "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds." Dad, as pastor of our church, had often taught on this virtue. However, on the morning of December 4, 1982, in Melbourne, Australia, the words "Praise God!" were far from their lips. Their firstborn son had been born without limbs! There had been no warnings, and even the doctors were shocked. They had no answers.

INSERT PHOTO HERE: SEEKING GOD Nick Vujicic

Nick Vujicic

The whole church mourned over my birth, and my parents were absolutely devastated. People questioned why a God of love would let something like this happen, especially to dedicated Christians. My Dad thought I would not survive for long, but tests proved that I was a healthy baby boy—just with a few limbs missing.

Understandably, my parents had strong concerns about what kind of life I would be able to lead. The first big hurdle for them was to be at peace and trust that God was in control. It took a number of months of grief, with questions and tears, before their hearts came to terms with my condition. But God, always so faithful, provided them strength, wisdom, and courage through those early years, and before long I was old enough to go to school.

Many people assumed that because of my physical disability, I was also mentally disabled. The law in Australia, at that time, didn't allow me to be integrated into a mainstream school. But my mom began to fight to get the law changed, and God did a miracle. I was one of the first disabled students to be integrated into a mainstream school.

I liked school, and I tried to live life like an ordinary kid. But during my early years of school, I felt rejected and weird, and was often bullied because of my physical difference. It was very hard for me to get used to. There were times when I felt so low that I didn't want to go to school because I didn't want to face all the negative attention. I knew that I was different, but on the inside I was just like everyone else. During these years, my parents were my strong support. They encouraged me to ignore what others said about me and to make friends by being friendly myself. When I demonstrated this attitude, other students realized that I was just like them, and they began to be my friends.

Even so, there still were times when I felt depressed and angry because I could not change the way I was, or blame someone for my condition. I could not understand, if God loved me, why He made me like I was. Had I done something wrong? Why was I the only kid who was weird? I felt like I was a burden to those around me, and everyone would be better off if I died. I wanted to end my pain and end my life at a young age, but I am thankful for my parents and family who were always there to comfort me and give me strength.

As I grew older, God continued to teach me to seek Him above all else. When I was around 12 years old, I began to realize how greatly blessed I was. So why should I complain? The verse in Romans 8:28, "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him," spoke to my heart. I became convinced that there is no such thing as luck, chance, or coincidence. I gained complete peace knowing that God had a good purpose for my life.

At age 15 I gave my life fully to Christ. I read John 9 where Jesus explained that the reason a man was born blind was "so that the works of God may be revealed in his life." At that time, I prayed that God would heal me so I could be a great testimony of His awesome power. Later on, I was given the wisdom to understand that when we pray for something, if it is God's will, it will happen in His time. But if it is not God's will, we can know that He has something better for us. I now see that God's glory is revealed in my life, and He is using me just the way I am, and in ways others can't be used.

In recent years, I have become more independent and can now take care of all my personal needs. I can do everything from brushing my teeth, combing my hair, dressing up, taking care of my personal hygiene and even shaving. I get around the house by jumping around, and outside the house, I use an electric wheelchair. I love to swim, fish, and play soccer.

I am now 23 years old and have completed a Bachelor of Commerce degree with a major in financial planning and accounting. I am also a motivational speaker. Because of my experiences with low self-esteem and loneliness, God has implanted a passion for sharing my story with others, especially youth, to help them cope with whatever challenge they have in their lives, and let God turn it into a blessing. I also frequently share my testimony in the corporate sector.

I also dream of … sharing my story on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"!

Wherever God leads, I want to follow. With His help, I hope to achieve some dreams in my life: to become the best witness I can be of God's love and hope and to become an international inspirational speaker in both Christian and non-Christian venues. I also dream of becoming financially independent by age 25 through real estate investments, modifying a car for me to drive, and sharing my story on the "Oprah Winfrey Show"! On top of this, I would like to write several best selling books!

Some people may think these goals are too far-fetched for a person with my disabilities. However, I believe that if we have the desire and passion to do something, and if it is God's will, we can achieve our goal. As humans, we continually put limits on ourselves for no reason at all! And what is worse, is putting limits on God who can do all things. The awesome thing about the power of God is that if He wants us to do something, we don't need to focus on our capability, only on our availability. It is God who works through us, and we can't do anything without Him. Once we make ourselves available to do His work, we can rely on His capabilities.

I know God has a great purpose for my life—indeed, for every person's life! If we diligently seek Him, He will give wisdom and strength for our journey.

This article is a compilation of Nick's testimonies used with permission. To learn more about Nick and his ministries, or to order a DVD of his testimony, please visit his website at www.lifewithoutlimbs.org.

What is blind trust? Good question. Blind trust is when you put your total, and I mean TOTAL, FULL, ALL, EVERYTHING trust in God. But what most of us do is we give the problem to God for a little while (or only give certain parts of the problem to Him - hanging onto parts ourselves!), and then when things don't go the way we think they should, we run and get our problem back! And, when we do this, God CANNOT work! Maybe what we want isn't coming as soon as we think it should. Or things are not going the way we hoped. Or we try to help God along - boy, what a mess!!

Asking God for something is like using a credit card: When we ask for something, we "give Him the card". As long as He has it, He can work. But when we "take it back", for whatever reason, He has to stop working and wait for the "card" back. And when we try to help God out, we wind up with the "card stuck in the machine" - and nothing gets done until we get our hands out and let God work! But now he has to fix the "mess" we made before He can start!

Blind trust is like a horse in a burning building. First you must cover the horse's eyes before you can lead him out. Sometimes God doesn't explain what's happening to us or where He is leading us - When He does this, we are to blindly trust that HE knows what He's doing! If He were to explain it to us, it might scare us (just like the fire would scare the horse!) and we wouldn't follow His sure leading.

God loves us and wants to help us with ALL our problems. All we have to do is LET Him! Even the little ones matter to Him - He wants to help! And we know that God is all power and all knowledge - So stop and think: How much better off we would be if we put our TOTAL trust in God and let Him do for us what HE knows is best!

After you begin to learn to blindly trust God with all your problems, BEWARE: Satan is bound to try to tell you it won't work! He will use every trick he can think of to get you to worry and doubt God. One way to know if you've really turned it all over to God is if you aren't worrying about it any more. If you find yourself constantly thinking and talking about the problem, chances are you are still holding on to it yourself. If you've laid everything at the feet of Jesus, there is NO cause for worry! When you do this, Satan has no ground to stand on. When he brings it to your mind, just tell him you won't listen - GOD has the problem, not you. So if Satan wants to talk to someone about it, he has to face God - which, of course he won't even think of!!

Jesus told us to come to Him when we are troubled and weary and He promised to give us rest. He said His yoke is easy and His burden is light - How true are these words of our Precious Savior!! He takes ALL our burdens upon Him and in exchange gives us a yoke with NO burdens. How calm and joyful it is to be free from burdens in the Saviour - resting in Him, trusting Him moment by moment - praising Him even in the middle of bad times, for we know we're in His care! Even though the circumstances of the day might suggest a day spent in worry or concern, the knowledge of God provides a day of rejoicing in the face of our circumstances! Rejoicing in the day the Lord has given us opens up possibilities and closes the door on worry and futility!!

When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water, He jumped out of the boat and started walking towards Him. As long as his eyes were on Jesus and not the high waves, he did fine. As soon as He looked at the waves (problem!), he began to sink. He called to Jesus to save him, and immediately Jesus did. Then Jesus asked him, "Peter, why did you doubt?"

I believe this is a valuable lesson to us as Christians. When we have problems all around us, it doesn't matter. The world offers two choices:

1. Sink: Let the problem scare you and cause you to give up hope.

2. Swim: TRY to handle the problem yourself.

But GOD has a better option: To walk on the top with Him!