You are Not a Mistake

“God doesn’t make mistakes. He has a particular place in mind for each and every one of us.”

Jen Bricker, author of Everything is Possible: Finding the Faith and Courage to Follow Your Dreams, began from an early age learning how and motivating others to recognize their significance, to trust in God’s plan for their lives, and to live each day by the motto her parents taught her: “Never say ‘can’t.’” Born without legs and given up for adoption at birth, separated from her biological sisters (one of whom was Olympic gymnast Dominique Moceanu, Jen could have lived a bitter life of helplessness and hopelessness. Instead, she challenges everyone to understand his/her significance and his/her ability to change someone else’s life in a positive way.

In her book, Jen tells how her adoptive parents had three boys and desperately desired a daughter, though they couldn’t physically have more children (very much like my own story I shared in Nine Year Pregnancy). Like her adoptive parents, I hope I am able to impart to my own daughter that God knew before she was born the plan He had for her life, the family He had for her, and the gift He gave to us in being able to be her parents.

My daughter was abandoned with cancer and loss of an eye, in addition to multiple learning challenges. Everyday, I desire to motivate her to see herself and her uniqueness through God’s eyes. In Jen’s book, she expresses that she does not see herself as “disabled” or “handicap;” she believes, rather, God gifted her to use her “uniqueness” to encourage and bless others, as well as provide her with many opportunities in her own life. Her lack of legs and her adoption into a family who believed she could do anything, allowed her to become the dynamic inspiration she is today (p. 18).

To read about a family who adopted a girl missing limbs from the same orphanage we adopted from, read Hope Floats. This same family also adopted other children missing limbs, like George Dennehy the armless guitar player who wrote the song: Have my Heart.

Read my other reviews of Jen’s book on: