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A Remarkable Story of Gods Grace

It says in James 1:2, Consider it pure joy, my Brothers, whenever you face trials of manykinds.

It seemed like a tall order to count hurt, pain

and struggle as nothing but pure joy when Nick birth date arrived. The parents of Nick wereChristians; his Dad was even a Pastor of their church, so that verse was quite familiar to them.

However, on the morning of December 4th , 1982, in Melbourne, Australia, the last two wordson the minds of his parents was Praise God!. Their firstborn son had been born without limbs!

There were no warnings or time to prepare themselves for it. Having no answers at all, thedoctors were completely shocked and taken off guard!

The whole church mourned over his birth and his parents were absolutely devastated. If God isa God of love, they questioned, Then why would He let something like this happen, and

especially to committed Christians? His Dad did not think he would survive for very long. But,tests proved that he was a healthy baby boy with just one hitch, hed been born without any

limbs.

Understandably, his parents had strong concern and evident fears of what kind of life he wouldbe able to lead. The first big problem was for his parents to be at peace, trusting that God was

still fully in control. It took a number of months and a lot of tears, questions and grief beforecoming to terms within their own hearts. God provided them with the strength, wisdom andcourage they would need through those early years. Soon after that, Nick was old enough to go

to school.

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School was really enjoyable for Nick and hereally tried to live life like everyone else. But, it was in his early years of school where he

encountered uncomfortable times of feeling rejected, weird and bullied because of his physicaldifference. It was very hard for him to get used to. In spite of this, with the support of his parents,

he started to develop attitudes and values which helped him overcome those challenging times.

Though Nick knew he was different, on the inside, he was just like everyone else. There weremany times when he felt so low that he wouldnt go to school in order to avoid all the negative

attention. With encouragement from his parents, he began to ignore the bullies and tried to startmaking friends by just talking with some of the kids. Soon the students realized that he was just

like them. Starting there, God began to bless him with new friends!

Many times Nick felt depressed and angry because he couldnt change the way he was, or blameanyone for that matter. In Sunday school, he learned that God loves us all and that He cares for

us deeply. At that stage in my childhood, he could understand His love to a point. But, as youcan imagine, he still got hung up on that fact that if He really loved him, why did He make himlike this? Nick wondered if hed done something wrong and began to feel certain that this must

be true. Otherwise, he thought, God wouldnt have made him the only weird one out of all thekids at school. Feeling he was a burden to those around him, he sensed the sooner hed just go

away altogether, the better it would be for everyone. So, at a young age, Nick wanted to end hispain and his life. But his thankful, once again, for his parents and his family who were alwaysthere to comfort him and lend him their strength. Thankfully, a real turning point arrived!

Due to the emotional struggles Nick had

experienced with bullying, self-esteem and loneliness, God began to instill a passion of sharinghis story and experiences to help others cope with whatever challenge they might have in their

lives. Turning his struggles into something that would glorify God and bless others, he

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realized his purpose!The Lord was going to use him to encourage and inspire others to live totheir fullest potential and not let anything get in the way of accomplishing their hopes and

dreams.

As Nick grew older, God continued to prepare hisheart and teach him to seek Him. One of the first lessons that he have learned was not to take

things for granted. With a wake-up call around the age of twelve, he realized just how muchGod had blessed him. His foot, what he has termed his little chicken bone he had been taking

for granted. But it serves him well. God had freely given to him and so much with his lovingfamily, and so many other blessings, he realized Why should he still complain? God directedhim to Romans 8:28 and there he found this, And we know that in all things God works for the

best for those who love Him. Wow! That verse really spoke to his heart. It convicted him to thepoint where his confident that theres no such thing as luck, chance or coincidence and that these

bad things happen in our life to make us more like Christ.

In James 1:3 & 4, it reads, know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lackinganything. Enlightened through Gods Word, Nick felt complete peace rush in, knowing that

God will not let anything happen to us unless He has a good purpose for it. At the age of 15, hecompletely gave his life to Christ after reading John 9. In this chapter,Jesus said that the

reason the man was born blind was so that the works of God may be revealed through Him.Nick truly believed that God would heal him so he could be a great testimony of His awesomepower. As he grew in Christ and in spiritual maturity, the Lord gave him the wisdom to

understand that if we pray for something within His will, it will happen, but in His timing notours. And likewise, if our prayers are not within Gods will, then Nick know that He has

something better. His purpose became clearer to Nick and now he fully convinced andunderstands that Gods glory is revealed as He uses him just the way he was. And even morewonderful, He can use him in ways others cant be used.

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Now Nick is twenty-seven years old, he had

completed a Bachelors Degree in both Financial Planning and Accounting. Also, hes active as amotivational speaker. Again, his number one passion is for souls.He just loves to go out andshare his story and testimony wherever opportunities become available. Over time, he had

developed messages that relate to and encourage students through topics that challenge todaysteenagers. The Lord has used him to speak in the corporate sector as well.

In recent years, he had learned to become independent and can now take care of all his personal

needs. He was able to do everything from brushing his teeth and combing his hair to dressing upand taking care of his personal hygiene, including shaving. Nick gets around the house byjumping around and, outside the house; an electric wheelchair assists him. For recreation, he

enjoys swimming, fishing and playing soccer.

God has a purpose of all things.

To God Be the Glory!