Victor or Victim
I love to read stories of people who have tremendous setbacks, but use them as a set up to lead them in a different way of living life. This was the case of Lulu Gribbin from Mountain Brook, Alabama. One year ago, she and several friends were enjoying a beach trip to Florida, but the trip didn’t go as planned because Gribbin suffered a horrifying shark attack where she lost her left hand and right leg. Fortunately, she was rushed to a hospital and her life was saved.
How do you deal with a tough situation? She could either sit down and decide that life had passed her by, or she could ask God to help her make the best of what she had left to honor Him. Lulu chooses the latter scenario. She chooses to be the victor and not the victim.
One of the most exciting pictures I saw recently was Lulu visiting a lake where she decided to water ski with one leg and one arm. It was on the anniversary of her shark attack, and she wanted to show the world what determination and discipline could do. Wow! She wasn’t going to let her handicap prevent her from doing many of the things that everybody wanted to do.
The Alabama Legislature passed Lulu’s Law, a shark attack alert system that is similar to the Amber Alert. This is to alert beachgoers of the dangers of a shark attack. Gov. Kay Ivey signed the bill into law. Now Senator Katie Britt has introduced a bill at the federal level to alert people in other states of the imminent danger.
Can you ski on one ski and hold on to the rope with just one arm? I doubt that many of us can do that. Don’t tell Lulu that she can’t do it. She uses her energy to be an inspiration to others rather than having a pity party for herself. She does grieve and commented how that is important, but her grief is tempered by God’s grace and what He can do in her life.
When most of us get in a tough situation, we are constantly asking God to change the situation. God is not as interested in changing the situation as He is in changing us. When we find ourselves in a storm, we want God to get us out of the storm. What God really wants to do is to get the storm out of us. Circumstances should never dictate our outlook on life. It will help color them, but you get to choose the color!
The Apostle Paul talked about a thorn in the flesh. (II Corinthians 12:7-10) Three times he asked God to remove that thorn. We don’t know what the thorn was. Some have suggested that it was a physical injury. Some have suggested it was the fact that he was a pastor of a church—some have even suggested it was due to an unhappy marriage. Those are purely conjectures, with some degree of humor involved.
Paul didn’t let his physical problem get him down. He heard Jesus say, “My power is perfected in weakness” (vs. 9) That led him to preach, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” (vs. 10)
Many of us never enjoy life because we are constantly complaining about what is wrong. We have decided to live on grumble street when we need to move over to thanksgiving avenue. Grumble street is a terrible place to live. Being grateful for all the things that God has given to us in the best neighborhood in town!
God can take you from where you are today to a level that will help you see things and places and people who can be greatly influenced by you. You can complain about your problems or surrender to God’s possibilities. That’s a choice each person has to make. You can be the victor or the victim.
What’s your choice?
