Have you ever had a personal pity party? You know what I mean, when you sit down and list all of the things in life that are against you and you feel sorry for yourself. I’m sure we’ve all experienced them from time to time. My dad had a way of jerking me out of a pity party pretty quickly. He’d say, “Susan, 20% of the people don’t care about your problems and 80% of the people are just glad to know someone else has problems too.” Fortunately, God always cares about my problems. However, I have to believe He doesn’t enjoy whining from His children any more than I enjoy listening to it from mine.
There are times in life you learn of an amazing individual who has overcome outrageous challenges in life and their story encourages you, challenges you and spurs you on despite your problems. Proverbs 27:17 says “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” A friend of mine sent me an article about such a person. His name is Rajesh Durbal and he just completed the Ironman in Kona in 14:19:12, which is amazing for anyone, but he did it with only one limb of his own. He is a triple amputee. He has a motto he lives by: “LIVE FREE, Live Amazingly.” He tells the story of how he came up with the motto:
“That came about, crying in pain while running in the rain, on my walking legs training up for my first Olympic triathlon last year. I was faced with many obstacles that tried to hold me down, and no one around to help me and all I had was my faith and prayer. I kept on praying wanting to be free from the chains that hold me down – small and large. I wanted to be free, and then Live Free was born.
Live Free, doesn’t mean you have to be physically challenged. It’s for everyone. Everyone can relate to a struggle they are dealing with in their life.
Live Amazingly, came from living life with purpose – Striving to live an Amazing life every day. Amazing is not the mountain tops we look for. Amazing is seeing beauty and peace with simple things in life, knowing your purpose here is larger than a mountain top.”
God will allow all sorts of obstacles and difficulties to come into our lives. Through overcoming the obstacles we grow in our faith, strength, and ability to be a blessing to others. Romans 8:37 says “In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.” We don’t have to just survive and conquer. There is so much more in store for us. John 10:10 tells us Jesus came so we could have abundant life. It’s time to stop just getting by; it’s time to “LIVE FREE, Live Amazingly.”